Murkowski Resolution Goes Down to Defeat in Stupid Episode that Means Nothing
The Murkowski "Resolution of Disapproval" to overturn the EPA's endangerment finding on carbon pollution was defeated in the Senate today by a vote of 53 to 47. ... Everything about the Murky Resolution episode has been, not to put too fine a point on it, stupid. Start with the resolution itself: It would have overturned the EPA's scientific judgment that carbon pollution is a threat to public health and welfare. That is a direct assault, by Congress, on the findings of agency scientists echoing a broad scientific consensus. Our legislature voting to reject scientific findings ... wonder how that looks to our international allies.
Then there were the dumb arguments in favor of the resolution. Senators supporting Murky took to the floor, one after the other, to say, "This isn't about science." But that's just false: The endangerment finding is a scientific judgment. Overturning it means overturning a scientific judgment. That's about science. (Oklahoma's Tom Coburn couldn't resist pointing out that he's a "trained scientist" and in his estimation, the whole climate change thing is hokum.)