Sanders Blasts Republicans for Corporate-Funded Climate Denialism
(COMMON DREAMS) Deirdre Fulton,, December 1, 2015 — Science-Denying Republicans—intent on derailing local, national, and global attempts to avert a looming climate crisis—have their priorities all wrong, presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said on Tuesday.
“I find it unacceptable that many of my Republican colleagues are more worried about campaign contributions they’re getting from the Koch brothers and others in the fossil fuel industry than they are about preserving the planet for our children and grandchildren,” Sen. Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a statement urging the U.S. to take the lead in stopping global warming.
The U.S. senator made his remarks just hours after President Barack Obama, upon leaving the COP21 climate summit taking place in Paris, called for certain aspects of a climate change agreement to be legally binding—a demand that is sure to raise the ire of Republicans in Congress and beyond.
As the Guardian noted in its reporting on the president’s press conference, “a majority of Republicans in Congress deny the existence of climate change or oppose action on it. In the run-up to Paris, and while Obama has been at the summit, Republicans in Congress have repeatedly threatened to block climate aid to developing countries.”