By Emma Dumain
Two major hurricanes hitting the same region of the country just weeks apart are not moving the needle for most congressional Republicans when it comes to endorsing tougher action against climate change.
After Hurricanes Helene and Milton devastated huge swaths of the Southwest and continue to stress the limits of federal disaster relief coffers, Republicans are by and large still not ready to change the way they react and respond to natural disasters, which studies show to be growing in both intensity and frequency as global warming persists.
Their reasons range broadly from questioning the science to offering solutions different to what advocates and other experts say is needed. Most Republicans don’t see climate change as a crisis and the storms aren’t changing that.
“As Governor [Ron] DeSantis noted … major hurricanes are a natural phenomenon that have been a part of Florida life dating back to the 1800s,” said Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Fla.), whose district was affected by both storms.
Webster was one of 42 GOP members of the House and Senate contacted by POLITICO’s E&E News this week, asking if they believed the severity of the storms were exacerbated by global warming and if those storms would motivate lawmakers to endorse reducing greenhouse gas emissions — many of them from burning fossil fuels — that scientists call the major cause of climate change.
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In the end, only three House Republicans and one Republican senator — Marco Rubio of Florida — responded to the requests. None of them attributed the strength of the storms to climate change.
“Congresswoman Mace is a strong advocate for bipartisan action on extreme weather and clean energy, but she’s also clear-eyed about Biden-Harris and the Left’s reckless climate spending,” said Gabrielle Lipsky, a spokesperson for Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), who represents coastal Charleston and is a member of the Conservative Climate Caucus.
