Apr 22, 2017
The Trump Administration’s Siege on Science
Senator Chuck Schumer breaks down how this administration and Congressional Republicans are catering to Big Oil at the expense of the American people.
In the first 100 days, the Trump White House and Congressional Republicans have time and time again put the health of the American people and the future of our planet on the back burner.
Just about everyone by now knows that climate change is real, it’s driven by human activity and it’s happening right now. These are facts, they’re not in dispute.
THROWBACK: Remember when POTUS tweeted this?
So what have President Trump and Congressional Republicans done in the first 100 days to address this historic challenge?
They’ve done nothing.
Instead President Trump and Republicans in Congress:
- Rolled back fuel economy standards that are saving Americans money at the pump, making the air cleaner to breathe and reducing our dependence on foreign oil.
The fact that they tried to do this so quickly shows that there is no reflection, no thought, no understanding on the part of the administration in terms of what has to be done to really save our planet.
2. Congressional Republicans passed laws making it easier for big oil companies to hide bribes to foreign governments, and making it harder for ordinary Americans to have their voices heard when it comes to managing our public lands.
3. President Trump proposed a budget blueprint that would eviscerate investments in scientific research and clean energy, investments that our economy needs to grow and thrive; investments that create jobs in America, jobs for the future.
4. President Trump appointed as his energy secretary a man who comes right from the industry, who called climate change a “contrived phony mess.” And his EPA administrator — a man who has said “we don’t know the extent by which burning of fossil fuels is driving climate change.”
Scott Pruitt has already stacked the EPA with climate change deniers. America will look back on EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt as one of the worst appointments they’ve seen in a very long time.
5. President Trump’s egregious executive order last month made clear that big oil was back in charge under the Trump Administration. The executive order reads as if it were written in the boardroom of a multinational oil conglomerate — no regard for the health and safety of the American people.
The Trump administration needs to understand this key point:
Protecting our planet and growing our economy and good paying jobs are not mutually exclusive. We can have both. We should do both.
- States like New York are showing that fighting climate change and employing more green energy and building more resilient infrastructure creates good jobs in communities large and small.
Senate Democrats will fight back at every turn.
We’re not going to stand by and see our children’s future squandered and our economy damaged so that big oil executives can just do better and better.
Senate Democrats have been and will continue to be on the front line, fighting for the better future our kids, grand-kids and planet Earth deserve. That’s why 40 Democrats introduced a bill aimed at blocking oil drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, why Democrats have forcefully protested the rollback of fuel economy standards and clean power plants and why committee ranking members like Senators Carper and Cantwell are leading the charge in calling for more oversight of the Trump administration.
