Politics

EXCLUSIVE: House Republicans Demand Documents Detailing Biden Admin’s ‘Climate-Related’ ‘Censorship’

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Michael Ginsberg Congressional Correspondent
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Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are demanding the Biden administration to release any communications with social media companies about “climate-related” “censorship.”

National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy and other top Democrats have repeatedly blamed “misinformation” and “disinformation” for opposition to their green energy policies. House Oversight Committee chairwoman Carolyn Maloney scheduled and then canceled a hearing into alleged disinformation promoted by oil companies and its impact on energy prices, while McCarthy has demanded that major tech companies “stop allowing specific individuals … to spread disinformation.” Facebook announced in September 2021 that it would fund a new fact check program targeting “climate misinformation.”

The Administration’s climate team is deflecting and discrediting legitimate criticism and disagreement over its failed policies by blaming disinformation on social media,” the Republicans, led by New Mexico Rep. Yvette Herrell, wrote in a letter to McCarthy, obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller. “This appears to be an effort to silence those who criticize the Administration’s unpopular Green New Deal style policies that are raising the cost of energy for all Americans.”

The White House Press Office did not respond to the Daily Caller’s request for comment on the matter. (RELATED: White House To Hold First-Ever ‘Climate Denial’ Roundtable)

Read the letter here:

Gina McCarthy Misinfo Letter 08022022 by Michael Ginsberg on Scribd

Gas prices crossed the five-dollars-per-gallon mark nationwide for the first time in history in early June, while the Biden administration has since touted a drop since. Gas prices have increased $1.80 since Biden took office in January 2021. While the president and his allies have blamed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and price-gouging for the spike, Republicans and energy companies have cited Biden’s canceling of the Keystone XL pipeline and gas lease auctions for increases.

“President Biden continues to flirt with censorship, surveillance, and suppression of free speech because he knows the American people have rejected his socialist ‘Green New Deal’ scheme, and silencing critics is the only way the Left can push through its anti-American energy agenda. The public deserves to know who in the White House is discussing these illegal and totalitarian plans to eliminate dissent,” Herrell, the Oversight Subcommittee on the Environment’s ranking member, told the Daily Caller.

Biden and his team have pinned various policy problems and disagreements on disinformation, from COVID-19 to the Biden family’s business dealings. Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci has accused Republicans like Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul of “distorting” facts about gain-of-function research and the COVID-19 lab leak theory. While working on Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, then-press secretary Jen Psaki promoted media outlets claiming that the leak of Hunter Biden’s laptop was “Russian disinfo.”

The Department of Homeland Security announced a Disinformation Governance Board in April, but ultimately paused the organization in the face of public outcry.