Citizens’ Climate Lobby, 11/7/18

The elections are over, the people have spoken, and now the Democrats control the House of Representatives. In the following statements, CCL Executive Director Mark Reynolds and CCL VP for Government Affairs Danny Richter provide some perspective on what we can expect in this new political landscape.

Mark Reynolds: “Now that Democrats control the House, there is great potential to move bipartisan legislation to price carbon. I emphasize ‘bipartisan,’ because the only way to enact an effective and enduring solution is to have buy-in from both sides of the aisle. We believe a market-based solution, putting a fee on carbon and returning revenue to households, can find the common ground between Republicans and Democrats. With the IPCC warning that we have little more than a decade to take the ‘unprecedented’ actions needed to avoid the worst outcomes of climate change, we can’t kick the can down an ever-shortening road.”

“We also want to thank Carlos Curbelo for his leadership with the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus, and we hope he’ll find a way to continue that leadership on climate change outside of Congress. Curbelo’s defeat, however, does not signal the end of the caucus. We’re confident other Republicans will step up to lead, and the existing and potential members are invested in continuing bipartisan work on climate. To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the death of the Climate Solutions Caucus are greatly exaggerated.”

Danny Richter: “With Democrats chairing committees, we’re likely to see hearings that provide a robust and constructive dialogue on climate solutions, like the carbon fee and dividend policy recently announced in Canada. We’re also wasting no time getting the ball rolling on legislation to price carbon. On Nov. 13, we’ll send 621 citizen lobbyists to Capitol Hill to generate the bipartisan momentum to move forward with a bill in the 116th Congress and make climate change a bridge issue, not a wedge issue. We’ll continue working on both sides of that bridge.”

Read Mark Reynolds’ further thoughts on the future of the bipartisan Climate Solution Caucus in The Hill