U.S. Senators Take A Bipartisan Approach to Solve Climate Change
Energy Research and Development (R&D) is at the heart of combating climate change.
And in order to reverse the snowballing, adverse effects of climate change, our nation needs to, at the very least, move toward a zero carbon emission economy as soon as possible. This is the resounding agreement throughout the scientific realm.
The good news is Congressional Republicans have been increasingly agreeing with their Democratic counterparts that action needs to be taken to alleviate climate change. During the parties’ house hearings, Energy R&D policy emerged as a focal point for bipartisan collaboration.
Better yet, on Friday, March 9, 2019, two centric senators called for the United States to pursue Pragmatic Energy R&D policies that can fight climate change instead of concentrating on drastic, yet unattainable measures.
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chair Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D – W.Va) wrote a Washington Post article on March 8 stating that the U.S boasts the opportunity to lead the entire world on the improvement of new innovations aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. They even pledged they’ll support these efforts in the Senate.
“If the United States is going to lead by example, we must continue to lead the world in the development of new and improved technologies,” they wrote. “On the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, we agree it is time to act. And that is why we will work to find responsible solutions worthy of West Virginians, Alaskans, and all Americans.”
Even though they did not name specific Energy R&D policies they intend to pursue, Manchin and Murkowski wrote that they’ll back “pragmatic” energy policies that can attract strong, lasting support from lawmakers and voters alike.
Last month, Murkowski’s committee heard a testimony that was in favor of more than doubling United States’ energy R&D spending.
“If we are serious about creating and leading in a new industrial revolution and competing with China, the E.U. and other parts of the world, Congress should seriously consider ARPA-E’s budget authority to be $1 billion at the very least,” Arun Majumdar, founding director of ARPA-E between 2009-2012 and the co-director of Stanford University’s Precourt Institute for Energy, testified during the Congressional hearing.
