Democrats return climate to US House agenda

Democrats who now control the US House of Representatives wasted little time in elevating climate change as a policy issue in the new Congress.

Soon after the House formally picked Nancy Pelosi (D-California) to lead the chamber as speaker today, Democrats announced the first in a series of hearings on climate change. Pelosi said US lawmakers should act quickly to address the issue after years of inaction under Republican leadership.

"The entire Congress must work to put an end to the inaction and denial of science that threaten the planet and the future," she said.

To highlight that Democrats consider climate change to be a top issue, Pelosi pointed to her decision to revive a special committee to focus on the issue in this congress.

"This is a public health decision for clean air and clean water; an economic decision for America's global preeminence in green technology; a security decision to keep us safe; and a moral decision to be good stewards of God's creation," she said.

In addition, House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Frank Pallone (D-New Jersey) said climate change will be the focus of his panel's first hearing later this month.

"There is no more pressing issue for our economy, our communities and our planet than climate change, and this is the first of many hearings the committee will hold on this growing crisis," said Pallone, whose panel also has jurisdiction over health care and telecommunications policies.

At least two other committees are likely to hold climate hearings as well, but have not yet announced their plans.

But the early Democratic moves are not without at least some controversy within the party. Progressive Democrats, emboldened by the party's gains in the November elections, are pushing to vest the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis with the power to draft legislation and subpoena witnesses as they push for a "Green New Deal" that moves the US off fossil fuels and invests in economic stimulus programs.

The select panel does not have those powers, drawing criticism from progressives including representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) earlier this week. "There is still time to strengthen it. For all our sake, I hope that we do," she said.

The previous select committee, which operated from 2007-2010, did not have the power to draft legislation but was used to help develop a record to support policy proposals, such as the cap-and-trade bill the House passed in 2009.

The new version of the committee is being chaired by representative Kathy Castor (D-Florida).

Environmental groups said they are happy to have a Democratic majority that can help push back against inaction and regulatory rollbacks by the US president Donald Trump's administration.

"We are eager to work with speaker Pelosi and the growing group of progressive climate champions in Congress to do what congressional Republicans have refused to do: restore US leadership on climate action," Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune said.