Wednesday, January 14, 2015

U.S. Senate to Vote on Whether Climate Change is Happening


Other than a very few outliers, scientists are in agreement that climate change is happening and that rising sea levels and changes in weather patterns pose a huge problem for mankind.  But in the reality free world of the Republican Party where every GOP candidate and elected official is in a contest to see who can prostitute them self to the ignorance embracing Christofascists and Tea Party followers of the party base, what scientists believe simply doesn't seem to matter.  Now, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said that he will allow the Senate to vote on an amendment asking if they agree that climate change is impacting the planet.  It will be interesting to see how crazy the GOP batshitery becomes.  The Hill looks at the coming vote:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday he will allow the Senate to vote on an amendment asking if they agree that climate change is impacting the planet.

At his weekly press briefing, McConnell said "nobody is blocking any amendments" to legislation that would approve construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

But a measure proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) had raised questions about whether he would stick to that commitment.

The Sanders measure asks whether lawmakers agree with the overwhelming consensus of scientists who say climate change is impacting the planet and is worsened by human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.

Democrats believe the measure could be a tough vote for some Republicans, particularly GOP senators running for reelection in 2016 in states carred by President Obama in 2012.

McConnell shot back at reports he might block the Sanders amendment, exclaiming "yeah" when asked if his caucus is prepared to take a vote on climate change.

Sanders's amendment is one of many Democrats are looking to tack on to the controversial bill, which Republicans are eager to send to President Obama's desk. The White House has threatened to veto the Keystone legislation.

Other amendments from Democrats include a requirement for oil companies to pay into a spill cleanup fund, and to block exports of the oil shipped via the Canada-to-Texas pipeline out of the U.S.

Get your popcorn.  GOP lunacy will likely be on display!

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