House Dems plan to bring back committee on climate change

Democrats are reportedly planning to revive a House committee on climate change after winning back control of the House. 

The Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming was dissolved by Republicans in 2011 after the GOP took control, but House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will ask Democrats to reconstitute it, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

The special committee, which was started by Pelosi, was not authorized to advance legislation, but the panel held hearings to address concerns about climate change, extreme weather events and global warming.

{mosads}The report comes weeks after the release of a United Nations climate change report predicting catastrophic consequences if the world doesn’t cut emissions in an unprecedented way by 2030. President Trump originally said he would review the report, but appeared skeptical of its authors.

Earlier this week, Trump said that he has not seen the report, but disputed its findings anyway, repeating a past prediction that global warming will “change back.”

The Trump administration has faced significant criticism over its handling of climate issues, most notably the decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord.

Trump himself has acknowledged that human activity plays some role in global warming, but has also dismissed it as a “hoax” and said that the situation is not as dire as scientific consensus finds.

He has also moved to repeal a number of climate change policies, including the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, many of which were started under former President Obama.