Top Republican lawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce Committee blasted the White House Tuesday for keeping details from the American public about the executive actions that it plans to force through on the climate change front “in an attempt to continue advancing an agenda” against fossil fuels.
“Climate change, once considered an issue for a distant future, has moved firmly into the present,” according to a White House report released Tuesday about the impact of climate change. The report includes data from thirteen agencies and was promoted Monday by Obama counselor John Podesta, who said that the report will help the administration enact its Climate Action Plan, which can be implemented through executive action.
But the report is short on details about the president’s plans, according to a joint statement made by House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Rep. Fred Upton, Energy and Power Subcommittee chairman Rep. Ed Whitfield, and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee head Rep. Tim Murphy.
“This lengthy report is short on details about the policy responses that the president and his advisors are seeking to unilaterally impose on the American people. These are the same details that this committee has been seeking for months, and that the administration is keeping from the public in an attempt to continue advancing an agenda against affordable and reliable energy,” according to the statement.
“EPA Administrator McCarthy testified that it is ‘unlikely‘ that any of EPA’s rules will have a meaningful impact on the global climate. But we do know that it is likely that these rules will have a significant impact on jobs, the economy, and energy reliability. Moreover, the Obama administration and its federal agencies are already spending billions of dollars annually on global warming activities, and it is still largely unclear what these programs have accomplished and how they will change the weather,” according to the statement.
“This committee will remain vigilant in its oversight of the president’s climate agenda, to help the public understand the effects of these actions and their benefits to the climate. This is the same agenda that was rejected by the Democratic Senate in the 111th Congress and is being pared back in Europe and other regions as the consequences on consumers and competitiveness are starting to be realized,” according to the statement.