Pelosi announces Dems for new climate panel

[George II]

Source: Politico

Speaker Nancy Pelosi built out the Democratic roster for her special select panel on climate change Thursday, pulling from a mix of old and new lawmakers but leaving off the highest profile freshmen like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).

The announcement, on the same day that the proposal for the lofty Green New Deal lands on Capitol Hill and one day after the first climate change hearings in years, gives a further boost to Democratic efforts to bring the issue to the forefront of their agenda.

“I want everybody to be in on the act because this is deadly serious,” Pelosi said in an interview Wednesday, adding that the panel will focus on global warming “from the standpoint of health, security, economics and morality.”

The new House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis will be led by Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), and raising public awareness of the issue will be a top priority; just 35 percent of Americans consider climate change an imminent threat.

The other Democratic members of the panel are Reps. Ben Ray Luján (N.M.), Suzanne Bonamici (Ore.), Julia Brownley (Calif.), Sean Casten (Ill.), Jared Huffman (Calif.), Mike Levin (Calif.), Donald McEachin (Va.) and Joe Neguse (Colo.).

Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/07/pelosi-climate-change-panel-1154847

---

(I posted five paragraphs to include all the members' names)

This was stunning:

After her weekly press conference Thursday, Pelosi told reporters she invited Ocasio-Cortez to be on the panel and that she declined.

[sandensea]

1. I take it no GOPee congresscritter volunteered for a spot

Just as well.

[George II]

5. I presume Kevin McCarthy will announce their appointees.

[sandensea]

11. Louie Gohmert and Mo Brooks among them, no doubt

He wants real bomb throwers in there, or no one at all.

On the other hand, I was hoping for another snowball stunt.

[George II]

13. ...

[Eliot Rosewater]

2. Declined?

[LisaM]

6. Yes, that's odd.

Some of the stuff she does (like working against other Democrats) raises little red flags for me, but it also could just be that she's already got a lot on her plate.

[Eliot Rosewater]

7. Someday we will be able to openly discuss JD and how their agenda is to harm Democrats

[zipplewrath]

10. Probably not here

Discussing democrats with whom one opposes is difficult around here. Juries can be quick to act.

[NastyRiffraff]

14. Especially CERTAIN Democrats

Opposing Nancy Pelosi was apparently okay. And of course, Hillary Clinton.

[YessirAtsaFact]

16. JD?

[BumRushDaShow]

17. "Justice Democrats".

They have an org and a PAC.

[George II]

9. The keystone of her Congressional agenda was supposed to have been...

...the "Green New Deal". She was one of the organizers of that demonstration outside Pelosi's office back in November. One would think she would leave some room on her plate for that.

[Qutzupalotl]

22. She's on Oversight, so you can imagine how much she has to sift through.

Not only are the violations blatant, they’re almost innumerable. So she has a daunting task.

I’m glad AOC was offered a spot and declined rather than (as it’s being spun) getting snubbed.

[George II]

25. True, she clearly wasn't snubbed. It's just odd that she decided to not be a member....

....of a committee that she demanded be created.

[PeeJ52]

15. Maybe she read Cillizza's hit piece headline on Pelosi supposedly throwing shade on her and threw a

sad... Ya never know... don't take long to grow an ego in DC, I hear...

[SixString]

24. Since all but one of the appointees...

received money from fossil fuel industry PACS, maybe she thought it would be a waste of time.

[Eliot Rosewater]

26. I see, so if the committee is imperfect, ignore it. If the candidate is imperfect, allow the

traitor to win?

[George II]

28. I seriously doubt that. Are you implying the other members are only there to make money?

Being on the committee would give her an opportunity to counter any (non-existent) bias.

[yaesu]

3. I do love how everything is coming together

I wonder why Ocasio-Cortez declined, seems like the panel would be perfect for her.

[zipplewrath]

8. Several possibilities

She might have felt, or been told, that if she was ON the committee, she'd have to work THROUGH the committee and she didn't want to do that.
Alternately, Pelosi may have asked for something in return that AOC didn't want to give or do.
Or AOC may perceive this is Pelosi's way of avoiding making any real progress on the issue yet and didn't want to participate.
Or she and Pelosi may have had a discussion and Pelosi advised her that she COULD be on the committee but maybe she'd be more effective, or happier NOT being on it.

[yaesu]

12. yes, lots of interesting possibilities. nt

[Johnyawl]

19. And quite possibly she did the adult thing...

...at declined to avoid becoming the issue. Since this is a 'signature' issue for AOC Nancy may have thought that her being on the committee would undercut whoever is running it. The media would have treated her like she was running things.

[George II]

21. I seriously doubt that - don't forget this is the committee that she demanded be created....

....back in November. Remember the Sunrise Movement sit-in that she organized outside Pelosi's office?

[George II]

18. This was the committee that she demanded be formed by Pelosi back in November.

[summer_in_TX]

34. Heard AOC interviewed by Chuck Todd this afternoon

Contrary to his usual, it was a very good interview. He asked good questions and gave her time to answer and interact. He asked her about that, and she was at the point of having enough committee and subcommittee assignments that she thought she was at her personal limit to do good work and serve her constituents well. She's on the powerful Financial Services committee chaired by Maxine Waters (a rarity for a freshman), as well as the House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform (chaired by Elijah Cummings), and (if I heard her correctly) three subcommittees now.

[shellyleit]

36. AOC explained it

Yep, I heard the interview too. She said she was on many other committees and didn't want to do a bad job on them. I got the impression she did not want to spread herself too thin. Still, it's kind of weird and she might just be putting the best possible spin on it.

[yaesu]

37. that makes sense, maybe she would have taken it if asked sooner but felt obligated to the

other committees she already joined.

[summer_in_TX]

38. Got that impression.

It was reconstituted after the other committee appointments were made apparently and by that time she'd gotten her plate full.

[cally]

4. Jared Huffman is a great choice!!!

Started out as an NRDC lawyer and probably won first election (State Assembly) because of his environmental credentials and endorsements.

[Reader Rabbit]

20. Nothing against Suzanne Bonamici, but...

Earl Blumenauer (OR-3) has more experience with environmental/climate issues, at least from the perspective of most Oregonians. Maybe Earl is already on too many committees?

[rogue emissary]

23. With Mike Levin on the committee.

I'm excited to see what legislation they propose. He's been a very effective and passionate believer in fighting climate change.

[Cha]

27. Good on all the members who didn't "decline..

Mahalo, George.

Benny Ray Luján

"..the U.S. Representative for New Mexico's 3rd congressional district since 2009, and as the Assistant House Speaker since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, Luján previously served as a member of the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission from 2005 to 2008. He was elected to be Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2014, and led the Democrats to win a majority in the House in the 2018 elections. Luján's district is based in Santa Fe, the state capital, and includes most of the northern portion of the state."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Ray_Luj%C3%A1n

[Kurt V.]

29. this panel has no real power. It's no surprise AOC declined.

[George II]

30. Under ordinary circumstances that would make sense, but she insisted that Speaker Pelosi...

...resurrect this committee. She got hundreds of people to demonstrate outside Pelosi's office asking to get it resurrected.

A committee working on developing policy on climate change is important. That she declined to serve on that committee was strange.

[Kurt V.]

31. the committee didn't develope as she had hoped . this sounds like created drama,

but I'm sure that's beneath us.

[George II]

32. When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. Now, when she's Speaker...............

[Kurt V.]

33. +100

[Cold War Spook]

35. Just in case not enough is done in the next few years,

I hope Musk is able to save a few people by setting up a colony on Mars. Good tv show on Netflix. Takes place on Mars starting in 2033, but it also has real scientists explaining what needs to be done now for it to have a chance to succeed. I have very little, almost no faith that the Earth will be livable for humans by 2100.