Darren Goode of Politico has commented that Washington is no longer warming up to the global warming issue. In all likelihood, is it the public which has ceased to give into the high-yelling hype which asserts that manmade global warming is "science", even though scientists, activists, and interest groups hotly dispute the existence, the causes, and the outcomes of rising temperatures in the world.
It's a reminder of how much things have changed for Democrats in Congress since their hopes for passing a major cap-and-trade bill died in 2010, reducing the entire climate issue to second-tier status. Now, Republicans are eager to argue, Democrats are reluctant to even talk about the issue in an election year.
The only person making a fuss about global warming is Congressman Henry Waxman, and embattled incumbent in Southern California who is struggling to increase his presence and prominence in a district where the stock supporting government-based progressivism has diminished considerably.
From ObamaCare to Cap and Trade, Congressman Henry Waxman has supported massive legislative initiatives without bipartisan support. Extensive invasions into individual liberty and state sovereignty, legislation to control the weather makes as much sense as a rooster who crows every morning priding himself on making the sun rise. Do our representatives insist on taking up committee and roll-call and voting time on issues that remain out of their control while ignoring fiscal and entitlement reform which they can and must address.
The planet may be getting hotter, but Washington’s debate on climate change isn't heating up.
Amid a summer marked by droughts, wildfires, record temperatures and freak storms, Congress is squeezing in just one hearing on the changing climate before it dashes out for a hot August recess.
And that hearing, set for Wednesday, is unlikely to be a show-stopper: No federal officials will testify and no big-name witnesses will appear — none of the elements that could help this gathering compete for an Olympics-mad public’s attention.
One year of unprecedented weather phenomena does not a manmade or natural trade indicate. The American public are more interested in the Olympics for the same reason that public and private stakeholders have been immersed in climate change rhetoric: the proliferation of mainstream media scrutiny on the matter.
If the only thing that kept the global warming crisis buzzing was media attention, right away voters and pundits should assume that the alarm raised over the issue was precisely that: alarm and nothing more.