Smith, C Rep

<h4>New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith</h4>

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<div>New Jersey congressman Chris Smith has represented his state for more than 25 years and has been talking about global warming for nearly as long, sponsoring his first global warming-focused legislation in the late '80s. He's a<span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> member of the exclusive club of Republicans who have received the endorsement of the <span style=" color: #ED1C24;"><b>League of Conservation Voters and he earned a rating of 77 percent for 2008</b></span>. </span>This year, Congressman Smith voted for the American Clean Energy and Security Act, only one of a handful of Republicans to do so. Perhaps most surprising, he cited the sound science behind climate change as a reason — he's no cherry-picking denier.</div><div></div><div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">11/10</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small;"><p droid="Droid" serif="serif" cambria="Cambria" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height" text-rendering="text-rendering" optimizelegibility="optimizelegibility" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Following the Tea Party wave of the midterm elections, half of the Republican caucus in the U.S. Congress now questions the scientific consensus that greenhouse pollution is a civilizational threat. Analysis by the Wonk Room, with research by Daily Kos’s RL Miller, finds that <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/2010/11/03/gop-frosh-class/" style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(5, 74, 97); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-skip-ink: auto; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(7, 96, 126); transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none !important;">45 of 97 Republican freshmen</a> and 85 of 166 re-elected Republicans are confirmed climate zombies.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"> There are no Republican freshmen, in the House or Senate, who admit the science is real. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">New members include William Marcy (Miss.-02) — who warns of “<a href="http://www.billmarcyforcongress.net/?page_id=71" style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(5, 74, 97); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-skip-ink: auto; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(7, 96, 126); transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none !important;">Global Warming Environmental Terrorists</a>” — and Kristi Noem (S.D.) — who voted for a resolution that “<a href="http://badlandsblue.blogspot.com/2010/08/snooki-noem-resolves-astrology-creates.html" style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(5, 74, 97); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-skip-ink: auto; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(7, 96, 126); transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none !important;">astrological</a>” and “thermological” dynamics “effect” the weather.</span></p><p droid="Droid" serif="serif" cambria="Cambria" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height" text-rendering="text-rendering" optimizelegibility="optimizelegibility" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The U.S. Senate, as the Wonk Room has previously described, has a <a href="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/gop-senate-deniers/" style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(5, 74, 97); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-skip-ink: auto; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(7, 96, 126); transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none !important;">monolithic Republican bloc</a> against climate action, with incoming Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) repudiating their past support for cap-and-trade legislation. The U.S.<b> House of Representatives now only has four Republicans who publicly admit that global warming pollution is real:</b></span></p><ul droid="Droid" serif="serif" cambria="Cambria" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height" list-style-position="list-style-position" outside="outside" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem 1.1rem; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Rep. <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit;">Ileana Ros-Lehtinen</span> (Fla.-18): “<a href="http://ros-lehtinen.house.gov/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=494" style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(5, 74, 97); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-skip-ink: auto; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(7, 96, 126); transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none !important;">Global warming is real and man-made</a>.”</li><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.6; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;" /><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Rep. <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit;">Judy Biggert</span> (Ill.-13): “<a href="http://www.biggert.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=22&sectiontree=21,22&itemid=75" style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(5, 74, 97); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-skip-ink: auto; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(7, 96, 126); transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none !important;">The science behind climate change is sound</a>.”</li><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.6; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;" /><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Rep. <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit;">Jim Gerlach</span> (Pa.-06): “Congressman Gerlach believes we have a responsibility as legislators and citizens to reduce our imprint on the Earth and <a href="http://votesmart.org/speech_detail.php?sc_id=410598" style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(5, 74, 97); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-skip-ink: auto; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(7, 96, 126); transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none !important;">reverse the effects of science-based climate change</a> for both current and future generations.”</li><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.6; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;" /><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Rep. <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit;">Frank Wolf</span> (Va.-10): “I believe that global warming is real. The National Academy of Sciences has presented evidence that <a href="http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2010/jul/04/congressmen-and-governor-state-positions-climate-c-ar-263049/" style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(5, 74, 97); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-skip-ink: auto; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(7, 96, 126); transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none !important;">the Earth’s surface is warming because of human activities</a>, including increased worldwide industrial development, over the past several decades.”</li></ul><p droid="Droid" serif="serif" cambria="Cambria" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height" text-rendering="text-rendering" optimizelegibility="optimizelegibility" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">However, none of these four voted in favor of the American Clean Energy and Security Act to combat climate pollution and support a clean energy economy. All five Republicans who did </span><a href="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2010/11/03/politico-climate-midterms/" style="background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(5, 74, 97); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-skip-ink: auto; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(7, 96, 126); transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none !important;">support the legislation</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> and ran for re-election won: Reps. Mary Bono Mack (Calif.-45), Dave Reichert (Wash.-08), Frank LoBiondo (N.J.-02), </span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Chris Smith (N.J.-04)</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, and Leonard Lance (N.J.-07). None of them have spoken publicly about the science of climate change.</span></p><p droid="Droid" serif="serif" cambria="Cambria" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height" text-rendering="text-rendering" optimizelegibility="optimizelegibility" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;">It remains to be seen whether these nine Republican climate realists will do anything to stop the <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/gop-investigate-scientific-fraud-global-warming-report/" style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(5, 74, 97); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-skip-ink: auto; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(7, 96, 126); transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none !important;">impending witch hunt against climate scientists</a> by their conspiracy-minded caucus.</p></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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