Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) on Wednesday used Hurricane Sandy to promote his global warming agenda by urging Congress to hold hearings on the links between global warming and Hurricane Sandy during the lame-duck session of Congress after Tuesday’s elections.
Waxman, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee who authored the cap-and-trade bill, wrote a letter to Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), the Committee’s Chairman, on Wednesday encouraging him “seize this opportunity” to hold such hearings.
“Hurricane Sandy is exactly the type of extreme weather event that climate scientists have said will become more frequent and more severe if we fail to reduce our carbon pollution,” Waxman wrote in a letter with Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL). “That is why we are writing to request that you hold a hearing on the storm and its relation to climate change in the lame-duck session.”
Waxman and Rush also complained that Republicans have not even acknowledged his requests to have more hearings on global warming.
“We have written you 17 times since March 2011 to request that the Committee examine the topic of climate change,” Waxman and Rush wrote. “You have not once responded to or even acknowledged our requests. We hope that you will consider the vast devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy and reconsider your approach.”