U.S. Senator and Republican presidential hopeful Marco Rubio is, rightfully,taking a lot of criticism for his statement during the 2nd Republican debate that “America is not a planet.” This is actually the only factual statement that Rubio made about climate change during the debate, but the actual point that he was trying to make was that America cannot be the only country acting on climate change if we expect to fix the problem.
What Rubio and so many other politicians claim to want is a broad, global coalition of countries working together to address the threats of climate change. But that’s just a campaign talking point. The truth is that Republican candidates do not want to see the U.S. taking any role in reducing our carbon emissions, and their actions in Washington prove it.
In spite of the fact that they’ve only been back at work for two weeks since their August recess, the Republican-controlled Legislative Branch of the U.S. government has been moving at a break-neck speed to undermine both the EPA’s carbon emissions standards and the actual agency itself.
The U.S. House of Representatives has already passed a measure that would delay implementation of the new power plant rules from the EPA, but the Senate has yet to take up the measure in full, although a move is expected in coming months.
However, Republicans in both Chambers have admitted that the plan is a fool’s errand, as any legislation that dismantles the new regulations would be quickly vetoed by President Obama. But that hasn’t stopped them from wasting time trying to pass a symbolic piece of legislation.
Furthermore, as Republican Rep. Ed Whitfield points out, the Republican Party in Washington, D.C. is too dysfunctional at this moment to secure enough support from both the public and from within the Party to actually allow the measure to move forward.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
