Henry Waxman offered the measure defining global warming as unequivocal. GOP rejects EPA's climate finding

House Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans don't want Congress to go on record accepting the ideas that global warming is “unequivocal” and humans are likely the cause.

Without the votes to stop the committee from passing legislation Tuesday to block the EPA’s climate rules, Democrats on the panel were left to score political points by forcing their colleagues across the aisle to vote on the science underpinning those rules.


Ranking member Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) offered a measure stating that Congress accepts the EPA’s finding that “warming of the climate system is unequivocal.”

The amendment was defeated on a party-line vote, with 20 Democrats voting in favor, and 31 Republicans opposing the measure.

Another measure from Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) stated that Congress accepts the EPA’s finding that “the scientific evidence is compelling” that man-made emissions “are the root cause of recently observed climate change.” That measure also failed along party lines on a 21-30 vote.

A third measure from Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) was also knocked down. That amendment stated that Congress accepts EPA’s finding that public health is threatened by climate change. It failed 21-31.

The amendments were offered to the bill from Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and his deputy on energy issues Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) to prohibit the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.

The committee is set to pass the bill Tuesday afternoon and it is likely to hit the House floor before the Easter recess.

“We are free as a political body to ignore science,” said Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.). “But just remember this: We are not experts, we are congressional experts. And a congressional expertise, when it comes to science, is an oxymoron; it’s a contradiction in terms, like jumbo shrimp or Salt Lake City nightlife.”

The three Democrats considered swing votes on the final bill: Reps. Mike Ross of Arkansas, John Barrow of Georgia and Jim Matheson of Utah, voted in favor of all three Democratic amendments.

Some Republicans refuted the claim that global warming science has been settled. “We should not put the U.S. economy in a straightjacket because of a theory that hasn’t been proven,” said Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas). “To put this amendment into the law I think would go against everything that people on both sides of the aisle say they’re for.”

Others argued that Congress is obligated to handcuff EPA rules regardless of the science.

Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-Calif.) complained about the “high and mighty attitude” his colleagues were taking about science, while EPA has acknowledged that its rules alone won’t stop global warming. “We’re really being passed a placebo by the EPA when it comes to climate change and no one’s brave enough to say that,” he said.

And Whitfield insisted that the bill to stymie EPA isn’t about questioning the science. “Our legislation simply states that the Clean Air Act is not the appropriate legislation to enact these types of regulations that EPA is doing.”