GOP Signals Plan for House Climate Change Committee in 2023

The U.S. Capitol in Washington on Aug. 6, 2022. Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images

Republicans have signaled their plan to end the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis and focus on economic policies that make America energy independent once the GOP takes control of the U.S. House of Representatives next year.

The office of Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) indicated the GOP’s promises to make the United States energy independent and reduce gas prices would be the priority.

Rep. Garret Graves in an interview with NTD's "Capitol Report" on March 8, 2022. NTD/Screenshot via The Epoch Times

“We don’t see a scenario where the ‘Climate Crisis Committee,’ a creature of Pelosi, will continue to exist,” Graves’s office said in a statement obtained by The Hill, referring to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

“Garret is committed to delivering on the energy components of the Commitment to America and will be intimately involved in making sure that happens.”

The GOP laid out the “Commitment to America“ pledge in September. It is designed to be a blueprint for governing in 2023 and is held up by four pillars: ”An Economy That’s Strong,“ ”A Nation That’s Safe,“ ”A Future That’s Built on Freedom,“ and ”A Government That’s Accountable.”

The plan seeks to maximize the “production of reliable, cleaner, American-made energy” and reduce reliance on foreign countries in a bid to “prevent rolling blackouts” and lower the cost of gas and utilities.

‘GOP Has No Plan’: Democrat Chair

Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), who will give up her position as chair of the House climate committee, accused the GOP of ignoring the “rising costs and escalating impacts of climate change.”

“It’s baffling that the GOP has no plan to address the rising costs and escalating impacts of climate change. Their inaction and lockstep alliance with polluters are exacting a toll on everyday Americans, farmers, and communities alike—making it harder to afford basics like water, electricity, and energy,” Castor said in a statement on Friday.

“Republicans seem eager to go down a path of increasing sweltering hot days, gutting clean air protections, padding the profits of Big Oil, and refusing to take a serious look at the cost-cutting potential of clean energy.

(L–R) U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) speak to the media during the UNFCCC COP27 climate conference in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, on Nov. 11, 2022. Sean Gallup/Getty Images

The Epoch Times contacted Castor for further comment regarding her statement that the GOP has made it harder for Americans to afford the basics and how the Democrats’ policies will address it.

Castor attributed hurricanes, floods, and wildfires to “the climate crisis” and expressed hope that millions of young Americans whose lives she said have been “shaped by climate anxiety” will “hold Republicans accountable.”

As will those “whose communities will benefit from the cost-saving clean energy investments in our Inflation Reduction Act,” she added.

GOP Seeks to Curb ‘Runaway Spending’ by Democrats

Republicans have argued that Americans are more concerned with the rising cost of living, which they say is driven by Democrats’ “runaway spending.”

Republicans contend that the staggering amounts Democrats have spent since they took control of Congress in 2020—such as the $700 billion Inflation Reduction Act and $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan—are the driving factor behind inflation and the cost of basic goods rising by over 8 percent on average.

When the GOP announced its Commitment to America pledge, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said record-breaking and rapidly-rising inflation over the last year made Americans “fearful” and wondering if gas or groceries would cost more.

A woman shops for groceries at a supermarket in Monterey Park, Calif., on Oct. 19, 2022. Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

“Now [Americans’] take-home pay is less,” he told NTD’s “Capitol Report” program on Sept. 23. “They only get 11 months, they lost one month of their wages, because the Democrats have caused inflation. And so what we think you should do is actually have a plan for a new direction.”

“That’s what the Commitment to America is—a plan for a new direction where we’ll have an economy that’s strong, we take away this runaway spending [by] Democrats, we make America energy independent, so your price of gas goes lower, more money in your pocket, inflation gets slowed down.”

Pelosi created the House special committee after Democrats won control of the lower chamber in 2019. It was tasked with advancing climate change-related policies.

In 2020, the committee released a majority report with an action plan that called for putting America “on a path to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050” through “clean energy investment.”