Waxman to Push for Climate Hearings

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce  Committee, wants to put Republicans on record about whether the powerful panel should hold hearings on climate change.

Waxman, over the last two years, has publicly asked the committee’s GOP leadership to hold hearings on extreme weather, major scientific reports about climate change, temperature data and related topics, but to no avail. On Wednesday, Waxman hopes to put  members to a vote when the committee considers  its oversight plan for the 113th Congress, he told The Washington  Post in a wider interview on climate policy and political  strategy. “Rep. Rush and I will propose amendments to their plan for the coming Congress to require hearings on these issues. We may be defeated, but to vote against even having hearings? Imagine having that on your record,” Waxman said of his plans with Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), a top lieutenant. The committee, under GOP control, has been active on climate change, although not in the way Waxman would prefer. In the last Congress, the panel – and the full House – approved legislation that would nullify the Environmental Protection Agency’s power to regulate  greenhouse gas emissions, but it did not advance in the Senate. RELATED: "The Best Little Congressional Energy Committee the Koch Brothers’ Money Could Buy" The  GOP-crafted oversight plan for the new Congress calls for fresh attention to EPA regulations that many  Republicans and some centrist Democrats contend will be economicall harmful. “The committee will continue to monitor international  negotiations on efforts to control greenhouse gas emissions in connection with  concerns about global climate change. In addition, the committee will examine  the EPA’s efforts to regulate domestic greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act based on its endangerment finding. The committee will consider whether  such agreements and regulatory efforts are scientifically well grounded,” the  Oversight plan states. “The committee will also review the activities  undertaken in this area by the Department of Energy (DOE), the Department of  Health and Human Services (HHS), and other agencies within the committee’s  jurisdiction, including efforts to prepare for and respond to weather events and  natural disasters in the future,” it states.