Oversight and Investigations subcommittee Chairman T.J. Cox. was outvoted by his Republican colleagues. | Mario Tama/Getty Images Congress House Dems didn't show up for their own climate hearing — so Republicans took over

House Republicans managed to quash Democrats' hearing on climate change on Tuesday by outvoting the majority party at the poorly attended event, forcing it to adjourn only minutes after it began.

The hearing of the House Natural Resources panel was to be the latest to dive into climate change since Democrats took control of the House last month, bringing new attention to the issue they complained Republicans had ignored during their eight years leading the chamber. The hearing was designed to probe the "denial playbook" that Democrats say fossil fuel backers have copied from cigarette companies — the same tactics used by opioid makers and the National Football League to dispute strong scientific evidence.


But Texas Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert — a staunch conservative who has claimed warm temperatures during the Viking age disproved climate change science — took issue with notion that the topic was within the panel's jurisdiction. He quickly motioned to adjourn the hearing before the witnesses could even deliver their opening statements.

That motion quickly passed, with the four Republicans present outvoting the two Democrats in the room, including Oversight and Investigations subcommittee Chairman T.J. Cox.

"This is now the seventh oversight hearing related to climate change that the majority is holding this month, starting with a full committee hearing," Gohmert said in an opening statement before calling for adjournment.

"These matters are all clearly outside of the jurisdiction of the Committee on Natural Resources, and its subcommittee per the rules of the U.S. House of Representatives," he added.

As Republicans exited the room, Cox quickly pivoted and shifted the proceeding to a Democratic-led forum — a gathering that allows the witnesses to speak but which lacks the weight of an official committee hearing.

A Democratic committee aide said Democrats on the panel will take steps to make sure a similar action to close the hearing can't happen again, but did not offer any specifics.

Cox accused Republicans of using a "denial playbook" to try to discredit climate science. He likened the tactics to the the way he said the NFL distorted information on how repeated blows to the head caused chronic traumatic encephalopathy among football players and how pharmaceutical companies denied the addictive nature of opioids.

And he said Gohmert's move to block the hearing was an example of the "systematic denial" that the Republicans use.

"This is not the first time we've seen this playbook put to use," Cox said.

David Michaels, professor of environmental and occupational health at George Washington University, said the "disinformation campaigns" used by the fossil fuel industry, opioid makers and the National Football League all drew from the tactics employed by cigarette makers.

"Each of these cases is a variation on the playbook perfected by the tobacco industry starting in the 1950s and continuing for decades," he said.