In a meaningless motion to shake hands with environmentalists and generally appear productive, under siege U.S. Senator Bennet peddled a motion to include climate considerations in a Senate budget amendment. Ignoring for a moment the fact that such measures are not official policy or law, Sen. Bennet’s pet project was utterly hollow even before it was approved in a non-binding vote last week.
The amendment to be considered allocates funding “to the economic and national security threats posed by human-induced climate change.” Since the U.S. Senate upgraded climate change to the status of national security threat, we know it must be serious, right?
So what’s going to happen to protect the national from security-encroaching global warming? In short, nothing. The amendment broadly urges increased use in clean energy and reduction in carbon pollution, all without increasing the national deficit. Far from helpful, Sen. Bennet’s paragraph-long amendment contains zero suggestions for dealing with the egregious climate change, and requests that everything be done without spending additional money.
Sen. Bennet is not protecting Colorado’s best interests – he’s pandering to his MIA base. His motion is a snide political counter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who is trying to provide states with an opt-out to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) increasing regulations. As the EPA tightens its noose around energy development in the country, Mr. McConnell’s amendment would provide some relief for states heavily dependent on the industry for jobs and economic stability, including Colorado.
Bennet would rather pretend to be an environmentalist (without actually proposing any action) and play political cat-and-mouse than help working families. It looks like an elected official from Kentucky is doing more to protect Colorado jobs than our own Senator.