Youth demonstrators stormed streets across the world demanding drastic action on the climate crisis on Friday, following a visit by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg on Capitol Hill last week to press lawmakers to view rising greenhouse gases as an existential problem that requires an immediate response. Behind closed doors, across town in Washington, D.C., Republican lawmakers, including leadership, huddled with the fossil fuel industry, maintaining the very ties that bind U.S. policymakers and prevent them from addressing climate change. On September 18 and 19, as Thunberg met with lawmakers, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., hosted fundraisers with oil and gas lobbyists to raise cash for the Scalise Leadership Fund, a political action committee used to dole out cash for battleground House races across the country. The fundraiser invites were obtained by The Intercept and Documented.

The Wednesday afternoon event with Scalise was hosted by the BGR Group, a lobbying firm that represents Chevron, Southern Company, and Petroceltic International, among other fossil fuel interests. The following day, Scalise hosted an event advertised as an “Oil & Gas Industry Dinner,” charging up to $5,000 to attend the event as a host.

Image: Provided to The Intercept and Documented



Also last week, Reps. Darin LaHood, R-Ill., and Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo., Also last week, Reps. Darin LaHood, R-Ill., and Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo., held fundraisers with the utility industry . The two lawmakers were hosted by the Edison Electric Institute, a lobby group for the investor-owned utilities that has fought to preserve coal power plants and obstruct mandates for renewable energy. EEI, as it is known, represents Southern Company, Duke Energy, American Electric Power, and other utility companies that rely on coal-burning power plants. Fossil fuel interests are a major source of fundraising for lawmakers in both parties, though they have become an integral part of the Republican Party in recent election cycles.