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hatrack

(59,594 posts)
Sat Jan 11, 2020, 10:33 AM Jan 2020

Conservative Climate Champions! Blahblah Green New Deal Bad! Blahblah Innovation! Blahblahblah

EDIT

Which is why, as a conservative, I’m excited and encouraged by the emergence of new climate champions. Whereas the face of the Republican environmental movement used to be limited to the so-called moderates of the Northeast — think the Susan Collinses of the Senate and the Brian Fitzpatricks of the House — now the names affiliated with climate action belong to the likes of Indiana Sen. Mike Braun, who just co-launched the bipartisan Senate Climate Solutions Caucus, and Florida Rep. Francis Rooney, whose name graces multiple carbon tax bills.

Ed. -

Let’s think about that for a minute: The senator from Indiana, considered one of the most conservative states in the union, is assembling a working group on climate change. In Ohio, my home state, the energy efficiency guru Sen. Rob Portman hasn’t been so bold. But even House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, facing the reality that young conservatives overwhelmingly support climate change action, recently said that it’s time for the GOP to “have that [climate solutions] debate instead of everybody saying we’re just deniers.”

Ed. -

Some see this trend in GOP ranks as a day late, a dollar short. But come on, we have to start somewhere. We also have to fast-forward through the positive-leaning rhetoric and get right to the solutions.

Conservatives have to go to the climate negotiating table with solid ideas based on conservative principles. Yes, they should push back against the Green New Deal, but it isn’t enough to be the party of no. They have to offer policy options to curb carbon emissions. And part of that story should be elimination of subsidies, including the most costly subsidy on the federal books: the right to freely dump carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

https://www.ozy.com/news-and-politics/conservative-climate-crusaders-not-the-oxymoron-you-might-think/258121/

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