Why Republicans Continue to Deny Climate Science
Republicans in Congress and on the campaign trail are digging themselves into quite a hole. Climate change is both a critical issue for our world’s security and sustainability, and a key political issue that could help decide who wins the White House in 2016. And yet Republicans continue to deny climate science, dismiss the urgency […]
The Many Sins of ‘Citizens United’
Our politics is awash in cash. Super PACs supporting presidential candidates have banked more than $250 million through June 30—nearly 10 times more than at this point in the 2012 cycle. “Dark money” from anonymous donors is also surging (dark to us, of course; you can bet the candidates know). The political network of Charles […]
Senator Harry Reid and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse: GOP in denial on climate change
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., recently condemned President Obama’s proposed standards to limit carbon pollution from big power plants — pollution that is now totally unregulated. Conspicuously missing from the majority leader’s argument was one simple, yet extraordinarily important phrase: “climate change.” Republicans in Congress have no plan to address climate change and cannot […]
The GOP Budget: Every Tax Loophole Is Sacred
Every tax loophole is sacred. That’s the prime guiding principle of the budget Republicans are trying to push through the Senate. Republicans claim to be concerned with reducing the federal deficit, which their Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming) described as a “dangerous financial crisis.” But are they willing to sacrifice a single tax loophole […]
Right-Wing Groups Get Overheated on Climate Questions
In late February, Sen. Barbara Boxer, Sen. Ed Markey, and I sent a letter to 100 companies, trade groups, and other organizations affiliated with the fossil fuel industry asking whether they spent money to support climate research. That letter provoked a torrent of criticism from conservative groups and publications mischaracterizing our motives and muddling our […]
For better justice, three steps
On the heels of the tragic events in Ferguson, Staten Island, Baltimore, and too many other communities, Americans are engaged in a renewed debate about our nation’s criminal justice system. Have decades of “tough on crime” policies gone too far? Is it time to stop locking up minor offenders for extended periods of time? How […]
The fossil-fuel industry’s campaign to mislead the American people
Fossil fuel companies and their allies are funding a massive and sophisticated campaign to mislead the American people about the environmental harm caused by carbon pollution. Their activities are often compared to those of Big Tobacco denying the health dangers of smoking. Big Tobacco’s denial scheme was ultimately found by a federal judge to have […]
Time to crack down on ‘dark money’
With an election season looming that promises to feature upwards of 20 candidates spending untold sums of cash as they vie for the White House, it’s time again to take a serious look at how we can improve our broken campaign-finance system. Without serious reforms, and with so many candidates drawing support from powerful special […]
‘Laudato Si”: A Call to Action for Congress
As international pressure continues to mount for serious action on climate change, we should all be thankful for the thoughtful and inspiring words by Pope Francis in his recently published encyclical on the environment, “Luadato Si’.” Giving voice to the moral urgency of this issue, the pope has bolstered the arguments of those who labor […]
Whitehouse and Cardin: America must lead the climate change fight or our leadership record is toast
The atmosphere is warming. Ice is melting. Droughts are worsening; seas are warming, rising and acidifying. We’re past theory and well into measurement on those points. Pope Francis recently observed that “[n]ever have we so hurt and mistreated our common home as we have in the last 200 years.” The matter of climate change is […]
