U.S. Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Mike Braun (R-Ind.) announced that six additional members will join the newly-formed bipartisan Senate Climate Solutions Caucus – Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Angus King (I-Maine), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.). The caucus is bringing together an equal number of Republicans and Democrats to craft and advance bipartisan solutions to address climate change.
“If we are to make meaningful, sustainable progress toward combatting climate change, both Republicans and Democrats have to be at the table,” said Coons. “I’m proud to join my colleagues in launching this important effort to take the politics out of this discussion and work toward real solutions. We look forward to continuing to hear from business leaders, workers, farmers, and a range of experts about their priorities and ideas for how we can best address climate change and strengthen American competitiveness.”
“As a life-long conservationist, I am proud to launch the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus with Senators Coons, Shaheen, King, Bennet, Murkowski, Romney, and Graham,” said Braun. “For too long, Washington has been paralyzed by partisan gamesmanship, unable to have productive conversations about our changing climate. Through this caucus we can have real conversations about protecting our environment, securing America’s energy future and protecting American manufacturing jobs.”
“Addressing climate change is going to require significant private sector investments and a major global breakthrough in innovation and technology. To that end, Congress should explore ways to incentivize the research, development, and deployment of clean technologies,” said Romney. “This caucus will serve as a starting point for a productive bipartisan dialogue so we can begin to come up with solutions for addressing climate change.”
“I believe climate change is real. I also believe that we as Americans have the ability to come up with climate change solutions that can benefit our economy and our way of life,” said Graham. “The United States has long been a leader in innovation. Addressing climate change is an opportunity to put our knowledge and can-do spirit to work to protect the environment for our benefit today and for future generations.”
The caucus held its first meeting Tuesday with CEOs who came to Capitol Hill as part of the CEO Climate Dialogue, a collection of 20 companies with $1.3 trillion in combined annual revenue and four environmental nonprofit organizations that have come together to advocate for federal climate policy.
