The House Republican caucus is launching its own effort to block the EPA from regulating carbon dioxide emissions, joining a number of other ploys to prevent or delay anticipated new rules from the agency.
On Tuesday, Republicans plan to introduce their own resolution of disapproval for the EPA’s finding that greenhouse gases are a threat to human health. The effort, lead by Joe Barton (R-Texas), has 79 Republican cosponsors. It mirrors both the Senate version introduced by Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) that has 40 cosponsors, including three Democrats, and another House measure introduced last week by Reps. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) and Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.). (A resolution of disapproval is an obscure parliamentary tactic that allows Congress to override decisions from the executive branch.)
Barton, Minority Leader John Boehner (Ohio), and Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (Ind.) plan to hold a press conference on the measure today. The trio will likely put on quite a good show. Barton believes that humans should find shade to deal with climate change and worries that wind turbines might disrupt the flow of air around the planet. Boehner seems to think that the problem is that carbon dioxide causes cancer, and that the idea that it is “harmful to our environment is almost comical.” Pence has objected to funding for climate research and believes that policy to reduce emissions is “tantamount to economic declaration of war on the Midwest by liberals.”
