Party wary of wading into tough political fight on environment even though Democrats could retake House in midterms

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Democrats don’t have a plan to address climate change comprehensively – or even to a significant degree – if they regain control of the US government in the near future, despite criticizing Republicans as the party of pollution.

After failing to get conservatives on board to limit planet-warming gases through legislation or regulation, Democratic leaders in Washington are now wary of wading into another tough political fight, despite an intensifying environmental crisis.

'We need some fire': climate change activists issue call to arms for voters Read more

If Democrats win back the House in Tuesday’s midterm elections, their strategy is to hold oversight hearings on Donald Trump’s environmental rollbacks and pursue more incremental and popular measures, according to close observers and a senior Democratic aide.

Environmental advocates hoping progressive politicians will lead efforts to save the planet may be shocked to learn there’s no wide-ranging strategy or headline-grabbing legislation waiting to be unveiled – even if Democrats take the White House in 2020.

The party’s efforts as currently planned won’t be enough to spur the rapid transformation in how society operates that leading scientists say is needed to spare humanity from the worst of rising temperatures, extreme weather and massive societal and economic disruptions.

But few in the party – or the big environmental groups that traditionally support it – are prepared to admit this outright.

“Obviously, a transformative government response to climate is clearly needed based on what we’re seeing from science. We have about 10 years left to really be doing something, but it’s hard [for us] to do because the Republican party is largely in denial on this,” said Congressman John Delaney, a Maryland Democrat running for president in 2020.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest There is no wide-ranging strategy or legislation waiting to be unveiled – even if Democrats take the White House from Trump in 2020. Photograph: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

Congressman Ted Deutch, the Florida Democrat and cofounder of the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus in the House, said he’s not “rosy eyed” that Democrats in the majority could get Republicans to reverse their stances on the environment and climate.

“But I’m also not a cynic,” Deutch said. “I don’t reject the possibility of a major piece of legislation, and I think it’s possible to put together a bipartisan bill.”

Democrats have a decent chance of winning a majority in the House of Representatives in the 6 November midterm elections this year, while the Republicans are predicted to keep control of the Senate.

A senior Democratic aide familiar with the party’s policy blueprints was resigned to the situation. The aide said it doesn’t make sense for the House to work on legislation that Republicans in the Senate will never take up. The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the issue is politically sensitive, said Democrats will instead try to encourage infrastructure projects to prepare communities for climate change and invest in green power.



The source said “increasing public awareness will be a huge part of an eventual solution” and that Democrats hope to lay that groundwork. But the current leadership isn’t considering anything like the contentious cap on greenhouse gases that Democrats pushed for in 2009 or a tax on industry for carbon pollution.

Trump quiet as the UN warns of climate change catastrophe Read more

The aide said Republicans have “demonized” attempts to slow climate change, making the issue politically intractable. That is despite almost daily reports of melting glaciers, dying wildlife and worsening storms in the US and across the globe.



Democrats don’t only fear futile battles over legislation with Republicans. They also are wary of turning moderate Americans against the party if climate solutions raise the cost of living.

George David Banks, a former Trump White House energy and climate adviser, said Democrats aren’t planning any major legislation because they are “still dealing with the fallout from the failure of Waxman-Markey”.

Democrats have twice tried and failed to take major steps on climate change. In 2009 when they controlled Congress and the White House, the House passed the controversial “Waxman-Markey” proposal to cap greenhouse gases, but the Senate never took it up following a massive lobbying campaign against it that included ads warning of higher gasoline prices.



After that defeat, the Environmental Protection Agency in 2015 finalized a rule for power companies to burn less coal. But the supreme court halted it and Trump’s administration is in the process of rolling it back.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Previous Democratic efforts to take major steps on climate change failed. Photograph: Robert Galbraith/Reuters

Progressive environmental advocates say Democratic leaders, including Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader, aren’t thinking big enough now.

“What I worry about is that Pelosi is going to get bogged down with oversight and is going to introduce a bunch of small-bore tax credit bills,” said RL Miller, the cofounder of the grassroots-focused advocacy group Climate Hawks Vote.

Miller cautioned that while smaller federal efforts and states’ work to limit climate pollution are good, the US will still need to make big changes across every sector of its economy.

Polling shows that while a majority of Americans care about climate change, few rank the environment as the most important problem.

“What I expect Democrats to do is not what I hope Democrats would do,” she said.

While 72% of voters backing Democrats see climate change as a “very big” problem, only 11% of those supporting Republicans do, according to the Pew Research Center, making any consensus extremely difficult.

But Sarah Hunt, the cofounder of the Joseph Rainey Center for Public Policy, who works with conservatives on climate efforts, said Democrats should offer an “alternative vision”, even if they don’t think it would succeed with Trump in the White House.

Elan Strait, the World Wildlife Fund’s US climate campaigns director, argued the action just isn’t in Washington.

“There’s no cigar back room where people are hammering out a climate deal because that’s not where the movement is right now … the movement really is at the city and state level,” he said, despite reports that local action isn’t enough.

Politicians say nothing, but US farmers are increasingly terrified by it – climate change Read more

The carbon tax method, to charge businesses and their customers for greenhouse gas pollution, recently won a Nobel prize but currently has limited support in Washington, despite multiple proposals from some Democrats and Republicans.

For now, the US policies under discussion do not come close to matching what science requires.

Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist at Texas Tech University, said she is “not aware of any comprehensive plan that would accomplish what the US needs to do” to meet the commitments it made to other countries in the Paris climate agreement, which is meant to keep warming to 2C but is not on track to succeed.

“I want to see action, and so far there has been precious little of it,” Hayhoe said.