carter, Buddy Rep 4%

SEE SELECT COMM CLIMATE

pow on vax?

-=-=

AN 9 26 FAIL?

GOP rep unravels live on CNN after getting wrecked by his own words

===

rww 826

• Finally, Rep. Buddy Carter cannot believe that Canada imposed retaliatory tariffs on America just because Trump imposed tariffs on Canada: "Canada, instead of negotiation, chose retaliation. And it's baffling why they would do this."

-=-=

Rep. Buddy Carter says that the Democrats who clashed with ICE officials are "clowns" and should be stripped of their committee assignments.

RWW 525

02/12/2025

by

Kyle Mantyla

• David Gilmour @ Mediaite: Tulsi Gabbard Confirmed as DNI — Mitch McConnell Breaks Ranks as Only Republican ‘No’ Vote

The Senate confirmed Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence in a 52-46 vote on Thursday—but not without Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) sending a signal to President Donald Trump as the lone Republican “no” vote.

• Pema Levy and Kiera Butler @ Mother Jones: Ignoring Court Orders Would Make Trump a King

How Elon Musk, JD Vance, and Christian nationalist figures are pushing a fresh constitutional crisis.

• Angry White Men: Joel Webbon: ‘European Culture’ Exists And Is ‘Superior’ To All Others

On a Friday livestream, racist, antisemitic, anti-LGBTQ, and misogynistic Christian nationalist pastor Joel Webbon asserted that white people do, in fact, have their own culture. He also claimed that this “European culture” has been “superior” to all other cultures because it was “heavily influenced by the Christian gospel and the Christian faith.”

• Arthur Delaney @ HuffPost: Republican Introduces Bill To Rename Greenland ‘Red, White And Blueland’

Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) has pioneered a new kind of symbolic legislation to flatter President Donald Trump.

• Pavan Acharya and Robert Downen @ The Texas Tribune: In quest to infuse more religion into Texas schools, advocates say courts are now on their side

Past efforts to allow more religion in public schools have been hamstrung by legal challenges. But those on the religious right feel empowered by recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

https://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/buddy-carter

[morgan mix?]

6* 4%

MISPLACED BEFORE?

021 Note: Representative Carterentered statements into the Congressional Record noting how he would have voted on roll call votes 145, 185, and 196, which would have been scored as anti-environment. He was absent for roll call vote 217 due to the passing of his father.

:{

}:

gt lakes and gt am lands again

:{

}:

2021

427Supporting Tribal Management of BisonWildlife, Environmental Justice, Public Lands/Forests 

2021385Transformative Climate, Jobs, and Justice Investments (2x Score)Climate Change, Air, Clean Energy, Environmental Justice, Transportation, Public Lands/Forests, Water, Other 

2021385Transformative Climate, Jobs, and Justice InvestmentsClimate Change, Air, Clean Energy, Drilling, Environmental Justice, Public Lands/Forests, Transportation, Water, Other 

2021379Censuring Paul GosarJustice and Democracy 

2021272Taking Action on PFAS ContaminationToxics/Public Right to Know 

2021260Restoring the Voting Rights ActJustice and Democracy 

2021247Pro-Environment Funding PackageOther, Climate Change, Clean Energy, Clean Air, Clean Water, Environmental Justice 

2021217Protecting People from PFASToxics/Public Right to Know; Water 

2021208Investing in Transportation and Water InfrastructureClimate Change, Transportation, Water, Clean Energy, Environmental Justice 

2021206Building Climate-resilient Wastewater InfrastructureWater, Climate Change 

2021201Investing in Climate-Smart and Pro-Wildlife InfrastructureTransportation, Climate Change, Wildlife 

2021196Removing Confederate Statues from the U.S. CapitolLands/Forests, Justice and Democracy 

2021185Repealing Assault on Methane Pollution SafeguardsClimate Change, Dirty Energy 

2021169Corporate Climate Risk Disclosure RequirementsClimate Change; Other 

2021145Increasing Awareness and Reporting of Hate CrimesOther, Justice and Democracy 

2021132Washington, D.C. StatehoodJustice and Democracy 

202191Protecting Dreamers and Immigrants Fleeing DisastersJustice and Democracy, Other 

202170Protecting the Rights of Workers to OrganizeOther, Justice and Democracy 

202162Voting Rights and Democracy ReformsJustice and Democracy 

202145Protecting Public Lands and Waters Across the WestPublic Lands/Forests 

202117Impeachment for Incitement of InsurrectionJustice and Democracy 

202111Certifying Pennsylvania’s Electoral VotesJustice and Democracy 

202110Certifying Arizona’s Electoral VotesJustice and Democracy 

2020242Phasing Out Harmful Fishing GearOceans, Wildlife 

2020203Increasing Funding for Renewable Energy Research & DevelopmentClean Energy, Climate 

2020182Protecting the U.S. Postal ServiceJustice and Democracy 

2020166Pro-Environment Funding PackageOther, Environmental Justice, Water, Dirty Energy, Drilling, Lands/Forests 

2020164Slashing EPA FundingOther, Water, Air, Environmental Justice 

2020163Blocking Trump’s Inadequate Soot StandardAir, Environmental Justice 

2020156Removing Confederate Statues from the U.S. CapitolOther

P2

2020

155Great American Outdoors ActLands/Forests 

2020147Protecting the Grand Canyon and Colorado’s public landsPublic Lands/Forests, Dirty Energy 

2020142Maintaining Suspension of Nuclear Weapons TestingDirty Energy 

2020138Investing in Climate-Ambitious InfrastructureClimate Change, Clean Energy, Transportation, Water, Environmental Justice 

2020136Eliminating Lead Service Lines to Protect Public HealthWater, Environmental Justice 

2020135Harming Workers by Rolling Back Wage ProtectionsOther 

2020122Washington D.C. StatehoodJudiciary, Justice and Democracy 

2020109Heroes Act COVID-19 Relief PackageOther 

202069Protecting Wilderness Across the WestLands/Forests 

202054Emergency and Climate Disaster Aid for Puerto RicoClimate Change 

202050Protecting the Rights of Workers to OrganizeOther 

202036Great Lakes Restoration InitiativeWater 

202013Protecting People from PFAS PollutionToxics/Public Right to Know; Water 

202011Closing the PFAS Clean Water LoopholeToxics/Public Right to Know, Water 

2019701USMCA Trade DealClimate Change, Other 

2019666Attack on Marine Mammal Protections from Harmful Air Gun BlastingWildlife, Oceans, Drilling 

2019654Protecting the Right to VoteOther, Justice and Democracy 

2019634Shark Finning BanOceans, Wildlife 

2019609Protecting Colorado's Public LandsLands/Forests 

2019602Protecting the Grand Canyon from Toxic Uranium MiningDirty Energy, Lands/Forests 

2019597Protecting Chaco Canyon from Oil and Gas DevelopmentDirty Energy, Drilling, Lands/Forests 

2019530Restoring Protections for the Arctic RefugeDirty Energy, Lands/Forests, Drilling 

2019525Banning Offshore Drilling in the Atlantic and Pacific OceansDirty Energy, Drilling, Oceans 

2019521Stopping Future Drilling in the Eastern Gulf of MexicoDirty Energy, Drilling, Oceans 

2019408Pro-Environment Funding BillClimate Change, Lands/Forests, Clean Energy 

2019395Preserving the Mercury & Air Toxics StandardsClean Air, Toxics/Public Right to Know 

2019390Eliminating EPA's Chemical Hazard Assessment Program, IRISToxics/Public Right to Know, Clean Water, Clean Air 

2019385Methane Pollution SafeguardsClimate Change, Dirty Energy, Drilling 

2019384Halting Oil Drilling in the Arctic RefugeDrilling, Dirty Energy, Lands/Forests, Wildlife 

2019383Blocking the EPA from Reducing Carbon PollutionClimate Change

A House GOP proposal to repeal all federal income taxes—including levies on corporations and the rich—and replace them with a whopping 30% national sales tax is drawing increasingly vocal backlash from economists, tax policy experts, and Democratic lawmakers who say the plan is yet another Republican ploy to reward the wealthy at everyone else's expense

Unveiled earlier this month by Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.), the Fair Tax Act is hardly a novel piece of legislation. As Steve Wamhoff of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy noted in a recent blog post, the bill has its origins in a proposal "initially pitched by an organization created by the Church of Scientology during its dispute with the IRS over whether it constituted a church and was thus tax-exempt."

"The Church of Scientology's only goal in the matter was to eliminate the agency causing it trouble, and lost interest once the IRS threw in the towel and allowed it to present itself as a church," Wamhoff explained. "But by then several politicians had bought into the idea and introduced it as legislation, which has been reintroduced in each Congress since as the Fair Tax."

Carter's legislation, which currently has nearly two dozen House GOP co-sponsors, would abolish the IRS—a major gift to wealthy tax cheats—and eliminate the payroll taxes that finance Medicare and Social Security. The bill would also nix the individual income tax, the corporate income tax, the estate tax, and other taxes, establishing in their place a sales tax of 30% for calendar year 2023.

"The GOP's so-called 'Fair Tax' proposal is one of the most regressive proposals in a generation, imposing a 30% federal sales tax on everything Americans buy from gas to food," said former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich. "There's nothing 'fair' about it. It would punish the poor and middle class while helping the rich."

In an attempt to offset the inherent regressivity of the sales tax, Carter's bill would send most U.S. households a monthly "prebate" to help families cover the costs of basic necessities—effectively replacing the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child Tax Credit, and other existing tax benefits that the measure would eliminate.

But Wamhoff argued the prebates would not be "nearly enough to offset the financial hit most Americans would face from the new national sales tax."

"Back in 2004, ITEP estimated that if the Fair Tax was enacted and the national sales tax rate was set at 45%, the poorest 80% of Americans would face net tax hikes from the proposal while most of those among the richest 20% would enjoy net tax cuts," Wamhoff wrote. "ITEP plans to re-estimate the proposal because a great deal has changed since 2004."

In a detailed of the "Fair Tax" plan, Matt Bruenig of thePeople's Policy Project that the poorest 20% of the U.S. public would pay roughly 70% of their income in taxes as a result of the bill's levy on consumption. [vid]

Democratic lawmakers and President Joe Biden have wasted no time seizing on the tax proposal as further evidence of the Republican Party's commitment to delivering huge windfalls to the rich.

"The GOP wants to scrap the income tax and replace it with a 30% sales tax," tweeted Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. "In WA State, where we have no income tax and rely on sales and excise taxes, the poorest families spend 17% of their income on taxes. The wealthiest spend 3%. This effort is a tax cut for the rich, period."

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) quipped on Wednesday that "it really must be Opposite Day if Republicans are claiming that a national 30% sales tax is 'fair.'"

"In what world is it fair to slam working families with huge tax increases, while giving tax breaks to the mega-rich?" Merkley asked.

On Thursday afternoon, Biden is expected to attack the GOP tax proposal as well as the Republican push to cut Social Security and Medicare in a speech at a steamfitters union hall in Springfield, Virginia.

"The president will outline the biggest threat to our economic progress: House Republicans' MAGA economic plan," an unnamed White House official toldReuters ahead of the address.

With Democrats in control of the Senate and the White House, the Fair Tax Act has no chance of becoming law, and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) only agreed to allow hearings on the legislation as part of the speakership deal he struck with far-right GOP holdouts.

But progressives argued the proposal offers a telling glimpse into the Republican Party's extreme economic priorities at a time of skyrocketing inequality, large-scale corporate tax avoidance, and economic hardship for poor and middle-class households.

"MAGA extremists are testing the waters to see how far they can go in their backwards economic agenda written by and for wealthy special interests—starting with a staggering 30% tax hike on the middle class with a national sales tax that would immediately make necessities unaffordable while letting greedy corporations off scot-free from any tax responsibility," Liz Zelnick, director of the Economic Security and Corporate Power program at Accountable.US, said in a statement Thursday.

“That's only the beginning," Zelnick continued. “A growing chorus in the Republican House caucus is scheming to sabotage the economy and the U.S. government's full faith and credit unless they get deep cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits that keep millions of Americans out of poverty and in better health."

:{"When MAGA extremists openly threaten to push the economy off the cliff unless they can further enrich billionaires and big corporations at the expense of everyone else," she added, "believe them."

}:

:{

}:

----

===

* = original

cosponsors who withdrew

https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/vaccine/

comm dr

While global health advocates applauded the Biden administration's recent decision to support waiving intellectual property protections for Covid-19 vaccines as "critical," "transformative," and "unquestionably the right thing to do," Big Pharma took a decidedly less optimistic view of the move and has been hard at work behind the scenes in a bid to thwart the policy, a report published Friday by The Intercept revealed.

In a bid to stymie U.S. support for a proposal by India and South Africa to enact a Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waiver at the World Trade Organization (WTO), the pharmaceutical industry is "distributing talking points, organizing opposition, and even collecting congressional signatures in an attempt to reverse President Joe Biden's support for worldwide access to generic Covid-19 vaccines," according to The Intercept's Lee Fang.

Fang obtained an email from Jared Michaud, a lobbyist with the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA)—a trade group whose clients include vaccine developers AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, and Pfizer—describing how Big Pharma and sympathetic U.S. legislators are pushing lawmakers to oppose a TRIPS waiver.

The email explains that Reps. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) and Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) are leading an unreleased letter to Biden—which currently has 29 co-signers—"expressing concerns with the administration's support for waiving IP protections related to Covid-19 vaccines under the WTO TRIPS waiver."

"We urge you to contact offices and ask them to sign onto this letter," said Michaud's email.

https://www.aspeninstitute.org/blog-posts/driving-climate-action-with-direct-action/

greenwash?

cLIMATE CHANGE

Driving Climate Action with Direct Action

MARCH 18, 2019  • :{GREG GERSHUNY:(style="box-sizing:border-box;letter-spacing:3px;text-transform:uppercase"):}:

On Friday, thousands of students around the world took to the streets, skipping school to demand climate action at more than 2000 events in 123 countries.  Led by 16 year old Swedish student Greta Thunberg and in the US, 13 year old student Alexandria Villasenor, students demonstrated to demand leaders take action on climate change.  Some question the utility of students skipping school and protesting. Will it have any impact? Is this worth the time lost in school?  To gain some perspective, I think we need to turn to past conflicts. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” a popular reading for Aspen Institute leadership seminars, may offer some insight.

In the middle of the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. King was arrested and thrown in the Birmingham city jail.  While imprisoned, he heard about a group of clergymen who criticized his strategy of direct action as “unwise and untimely.” They argued that negotiation is better than direct action.  However, the relevant point that Dr. King makes in response is that direct action, in fact, leads to negotiation. In his reply to the Alabama clergymen, Dr. King wrote:

You are exactly right in your call for negotiation. Indeed, this is the purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such creative tension that a community that has consistently refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored… So, the purpose of direct action is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation.

In this case, the combination of the announcement and attention (both positive and negative) around the Green New Deal, as well as the non-violent protests of the student strikers, has created a movement on climate action. Ignited, partially, by the recent release of the IPCC special report on global warming of 1.5˚ C, which warns of the need for immediate strengthened actions to avoid imminent perilous effects, many policymakers and leaders are heeding this call.

Since the rise of the climate strike and the Green New Deal, there have been a flurry of announcements on climate action.  Former Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and former Assistant Secretary of Energy Andy Karsner released the Green Real Deal, which is focused on the deployment of clean energy technology.Instead of an industrial policy like the Green New Deal, it focuses on market solutionsto deploy new technology like batteries, wind and solar, as well as advanced nuclear and carbon capture technologies. Rep. Buddy Carter(R-GA), who is a Republican member of the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis said that, “We know that we’ve got to address climate change… Everything is on the table and everything has got to be addressed.” Meanwhile, Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) [LETS LOBBYIST HOLMSTED AND MARTELLA WRITE BILLS] and Joe Manchin (D–WV) stated in a joint op-ed that, “Resource development and environmental stewardship must move in tandem, which is why we are committed to putting forward bipartisan solutions to help address climate change.” Similarly, Republican former governor of Ohio John Kasich said, “We’ve finally reached a tipping point… most of our allies around the world are convinced that climate change is happening and that strong, concerted actions are needed to minimize its effects.”

But perhaps the most important statement in recent days is from António Guterres, the United Nation’s Secretary-General, who has also served as prime minister of Portugal. Guterres specifically called out the importance of the climate strike and asked world leaders to come to the UN Climate Summit in New York in September with plans to reduce to net-zero by 2050.  Not all leaders will do this – it’s nearly certain President Trump will not – but action begets action.  Having world leaders ratchet up their Paris climate commitments will spur more innovation and spending on clean energy technologies. It will spur new financial mechanisms, increased investments from individuals and from governments, and it will speed the deployment of clean technology. Whether we as a planet actually achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 will remain unknown, but this can set a course that can allow us to accomplish this seemingly impossible feat.

Martin Luther King Jr., sitting in a jail cell in 1963, was right. Direct action can help to bring reluctant parties to the negotiation table. Today’s climate leaders like Greta Thunberg, Alexandria Villasenor, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and others are walking in Dr. King’s shoes.  Politicians, corporate leaders, and experts are pushing the conversation from a backburner issue to a crisis point that has opened the door to negotiation. Once at the table we will quickly realize that we have all the tools needed to achieve deep decarbonization.

pacific Research Institute president Sally Pipes made the argument against Medicare for all. She was interviewed by Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA).

https://www.c-span.org/video/?468191-1/after-words-sally-pipes

booktv canadian trash faser inst 220

true UK bot #5 on 5 yr cancer, but all counties improving in all acts (but do US stats include ppl who don't have health care? UK has better stats?)

she does not mention cda?

Sep 11, 2019 - In the latter two cancers, the UK had the lowest survival rates over five years, at 62.1% and 7.9%. The UK was also last in lung cancer (14.7%), in which Canada did best (21.7%), and stomach cancer (20.8%). Ovarian cancer survival was highest in Norway (46.2%) and lowest in Ireland (36%).

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-49661516

==

https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060122773/print

One has a deep background in climate and coastal adaptation. One is a good friend of the Koch political network. Two come from coal country.

The Republican roster for the climate change select committeereflects the party's larger variety of stances on climate change, although its most outspoken advocates for aggressive action on emissions were left off.

In short, the GOP is all over the place.

The roster of Republicans for the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, announced yesterday by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), will be led by Rep. Garret Graves.

The Louisiana lawmaker served on his state's Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, where he helped craft a massive coastal restoration and levee program after Hurricane Katrina. And he was once a staff director for the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Subcommittee on Global Climate Change and Impacts under then-Sen. David Vitter (R-La.).

Graves is in some ways the quintessential Republican on climate. He's concerned about the effects of sea-level rise on his district, but he's not hesitant to tout the benefits of natural gas in reducing emissions or the "all of the above" energy agenda.

"I've been working in this area for a while, and Louisiana's in a unique spot just because we have both sea rise facing us and we're one of the top energy producers," he told E&E News last month. "I think it's a unique perspective."

Graves could use his spot on the panel to push climate adaptation measures for sea-level rise, which he said is "the threat that's closest to the door." He's already worked on water infrastructure issues on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and was heavily involved in the Disaster Recovery Reform Act, a major set of disaster reforms enacted last year.

But other Republicans on the select committee have openly disputed climate science or have deeper ties to the fossil fuel industry and conservative donors who have long opposed action on climate change.

They'll sit across from a group of Democrats, led by Chairwoman Kathy Castor of Florida, who will be tasked with driving home and publicizing the party's message on climate change (*Greenwire*, Feb. 7).

Low scores, big dollars

The Republican roster is primarily defined by low ratings from environmental groups and big campaign donations from the fossil fuel industry.

It also represents a mix of energy interests and could help rally around the Republican claim that natural gas and nuclear are the path forward on climate.

Reps. Morgan Griffith of Virginia, Buddy Carter of Georgia, Gary Palmer of Alabama, Carol Miller of West Virginia and Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota round out the GOP roster.

While all the GOP picks are conservative, Griffith and Palmer are members of the House Freedom Caucus, the hard-right group filled with climate deniers and deep doubts about the regulatory role of EPA.

The conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute, a fierce EPA critic, recommended six members for the panel, but only Griffith made the cut. The Virginia lawmaker said he has not talked with the group about the opening.

An Energy and Commerce Committee member, Griffith has often fought EPA rules that target coal, a large economic driver in his district located in the southwestern part of the state. He has sought funding for the redevelopment of abandoned mines.

"As long as we make it clear they have to follow rules and realistic science, I am fine with it," Griffith said when asked about EPA's role in regulating greenhouse gases.

Griffith does not deny climate change but has raised concerns that other countries are doing less than the U.S. to cut global emissions, a common Republican line echoed across the Energy and Commerce panel. He's an ally of the Koch political network, which helped him oust Democrat Rick Boucher, one of the lead authors of the 2009 cap-and-trade bill.

Asked about allies on the panel, Griffith said he gets "along well" with Palmer and knows Democratic Rep. Don McEachin of Virginia from their days in the state Legislature.

Since his election to Congress in 2010, Griffith has taken more than $700,000 from the fossil fuel industry and electric utilities, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. He has a 5 percent lifetime score from the League of Conservation Voters.

Palmer, who sits on the Science and Transportation and Infrastructure committees, has gone further than many Republicans in questioning not only the cause, but whether climate change is even underway.He has questioned the accuracy of global warming studies and was forced to correct himself in 2017 when he said Arctic ice sheets were expanding rather than, in fact, shrinking.

Palmer has consistently argued that Congress never gave EPA the right to regulate greenhouse gases and believes the courts are wrong in backing that right. Still, he told E&E last year it's "political nonsense" to say the GOP wants to eliminate all regulations, saying it only wants "sensible" ones.

Elected in 2014, Palmer has received $139,000 from energy and natural gas interests, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. He has a 1 percent lifetime LCV score.

Carter has a similarly abysmal record in LCV's estimation, coming in with a zero percent lifetime score, but he doesn't take as hard a stance on climate science.

"I acknowledge that climate change is a problem," Carter said during his campaign last year, according to the Savannah Morning News. "I question sometimes how much of it is man-made but I acknowledge that we need to address it and I've always done that."

His district runs the span ofGeorgia's coast and is near Plant Vogtle, currently the nation's sole nuclear power project.

The two freshmen selected for the panel hail from rural states heavily reliant on the fossil fuel industry.

Armstrong, an attorney who worked for his family oil business and owns a few hundred wells himself in North Dakota, is the sole congressman from a state with huge gas and oil holdings in the Bakken Shale.

He has argued against the United States going it alone on climate policy and prefers that states, not EPA, regulate the environment (*E&E Daily*, Jan. 11).

Armstrong was elected to replace Kevin Cramer (R), who is now in the Senate, and his largest source of campaign donations was the oil and gas industries, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Miller, who won an open-seat race, is certain to tout White House policies that promote and protect domestic coal, one of West Virginia's leading exports. A bison farmer who owns a car dealership, she also has expressed doubts over federal spending on the expanding use of renewable fuels. In a year that saw a large number of women elected to Congress, Miller was the only new female GOP member.

'I'll take that two ways'

While conservative and moderate climate activists praised Graves, there were also some notable omissions from the panel.

Not a single member who was on the Climate Solutions Caucus last Congress made it onto the roster, nor did Reps. Francis Rooney (R-Fla.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), the two most outspoken House Republicans on climate issues.

But Rooney suggested it might be a good thing he wasn't selected if the committee ends up being a forum for partisan bickering about established science.  Rooney had even asked McCarthy to be on the panel, as had Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), the former ranking member of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming from 2007 to 2011.

"I'll take that two ways," Rooney told reporters yesterday. "First of all, it shows that they're not where I am yet, and it makes me feel really good about being where I am."

Still, it's "a bit puzzling" that none of the Republicans from the Solutions Caucus made it onto the panel, said Steve Valk, spokesman for Citizens' Climate Lobby.

"Graves appears to be a good pick for ranking member," Valk said in an email. "His district faces many challenges with climate change, and he's expressed the need for action."

Alex Flint, executive director of the Alliance for Market Solutions, a conservative carbon tax group, similarly praised the selection of Graves.

"That is a clear signal that the Republican leadership is comfortable with someone who acknowledges climate change leading Republicans on this issue," Flint said in an email.

But even Graves has just a 3 percent lifetime rating from the League of Conservation Voters and took more than $130,000 from oil and gas political action committees in the last election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

'We're speaking for ourselves now'

The mix of Republican ideologies — and the tension between deniers and nominal believers — is also evident elsewhere on Capitol Hill.

On Wednesday, the Congressional Western Caucus gathered reporters outside the Capitol to rail against climate science and the "Green New Deal." House Natural Resources ranking member Rob Bishop (R-Utah) ate a hamburger, saying that the "Green New Deal" would ban cows, and Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) falsely suggested that carbon dioxide is not bad for the planet because plants use it for photosynthesis (*E&E Daily*, Feb. 28).

Then, the next morning at the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change, the Republican climate evolution some activists have been claiming to see for years was on full display.

Members including Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) and full committee ranking member Greg Walden (R-Ore.) continued to rebut the legality of the Paris climate agreement, but they also called for bipartisan climate action that stresses "innovation," pleas that would have been stunning just a few years ago.

"We're speaking for ourselves now," as opposed to letting Democrats control the message on climate, Walden told reporters.

"There's a lot of stuff we can work together on," he added.

What that atmosphere means for climate legislation and for debates on the select committee is still not clear, but Rooney said he's hoping to turn freshly converted Republicans into carbon tax believers.

Some Republicans might even jump on board with carbon pricing to counter the progressive "Green New Deal," which would rely heavily on government spending on infrastructure, research and development, Rooney said.

"I think the 'Green New Deal' may have gotten people's attention," Rooney said. "It certainly got Walden's."

Asked about carbon pricing yesterday as he ducked back into the House chamber, Walden didn't rule it out.

"I'm not going to get into all those discussions yet," he said.

==