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Wave of climate change deniers elected to Congress

The U.S. blog Wonk Room calculates that every single Republican newly elected to Congress doubts that climate change is real and caused by humans. That means one out of every two Republicans in the House and Senate now are climate change skeptics. Excerpts from the post:

“Following the Tea Party wave of the midterm elections, half of the Republican caucus in the U.S. Congress now questions the scientific consensus that greenhouse pollution is a civilizational threat. Analysis by the Wonk Room, with research by Daily Kos’s RL Miller, finds that 45 of 97 Republican freshmen and 85 of 166 reelected Republicans are confirmed climate zombies.

“There are no Republican freshmen, in the House or Senate, who admit the science is real. New members include William Marcy (MS-2) — who warns of “Global Warming Environmental Terrorists” -- and Kristi Noem (SD-AL) -- who voted for a resolution that “astrological” and “thermological” dynamics “effect” the weather.

“The U.S. Senate, as the Wonk Room has previously described, has a monolithic Republican bloc against climate action, with incoming Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) repudiating their past support for cap-and-trade legislation. The U.S. House of Representatives now only has four Republicans who publicly admit that global warming pollution is real…”

David Beers is editor of The Tyee.

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