This week, Senate Democrats joined the Republican majority to confirm three avowed deniers of climate science into Donald Trump’s cabinet — Ryan Zinke for Interior, Ben Carson for Housing and Urban Development, and Rick Perry for Energy. Zinke was confirmed on Wednesday, and Carson and Perry confirmed on Thursday.
Democrats chose not to use the 30 hours of debate time following the Perry cloture vote, instead allowing his confirmation to occur immediately after. (That was a caucus-leadership level decision—aka Chuck Schumer.)
Seventeen members of the Democratic caucus voted for Ryan Zinke; 11 voted for cloture or confirmation on Carson; and 12 voted for cloture or confirmation on Perry. In all, 22 Democrats voted at least once with Republicans for these nominees. (Angus King (Maine) is an independent who caucuses with the Democrats.)
Ryan Zinke, now Trump’s Interior Secretary, has voted in the past to sell of thousands of acres of public lands. Now he runs our National Parks, including the rapidly melting Glacier National Park. And he’s called climate change “not proven science.”
Back when he was running for president, Ben Carson, running Housing and Urban Development, said “there’s always going to be either cooling or warming going on.” Now he oversees the nation’s climate-disaster housing relief programs.
And Rick Perry, now our Department of Energy head, called climate science “unsettled” and a “contrived, phony mess.” As Texas Governor and as a presidential candidate, Perry received millions of dollars in campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry. Now he runs our nation’s energy research labs.
These votes also set a dangerous precedent for the upcoming battle over the last branch of government not under Steve Bannon’s control —the judiciary. Senate Democrats still have the power to protect the Supreme Court from a Trump takeover, but as we can see the caucus doesn’t intend to stand in his way.
Democrats for Zinke
- Michael Bennet (Colo.)
- Sherrod Brown (Ohio)
- Chris Coons (Del.)
- Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.)
- Joe Donnelly (Ind.)
- Martin Heinrich (N.M.)
- Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.)
- Tim Kaine (Va.)
- Angus King (Maine)
- Joe Manchin (W.Va.)
- Claire McCaskill (Mo.)
- Chris Murphy (Conn.)
- Bill Nelson (Fla.)
- Jon Tester (Mont.)
- Tom Udall (N.M.)
- Mark Warner (Va.)
- Ron Wyden (Ore.) – voted present for cloture, for confirmation
Democrats for Carson
- Sherrod Brown (Ohio)
- Ben Cardin (Md.) – voted for cloture, against confirmation
- Tom Carper (Del.) – voted for cloture, against confirmation
- Joe Donnelly (Ind.)
- Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.)
- Joe Manchin (W.V.)
- Bob Menendez (N.J.) – voted for cloture, against confirmation
- Jack Reed (R.I.) – voted for cloture, against confirmation
- Jon Tester (Mont.)
- Mark Warner (Va.)
- Angus King (Maine)
Democrats for Perry
- Ben Cardin (Md.) – voted for cloture, against confirmation
- Tom Carper (Del.) – voted against cloture, for confirmation
- Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.)
- Joe Donnelly (Ind.)
- Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.)
- Angus King (Maine)
- Joe Manchin (W.Va.)
- Tom Udall (N.M.)
- Claire McCaskill (Mo.)
- Debbie Stabenow (Mich.)
- Jon Tester (Mont.)
- Mark Warner (Va.)
Take action:
If your Democratic senator is on this list, send them an email telling them what you think.
If your Democratic senator is NOT on this list, send them an email telling them to get their caucus in line.
If you’ve only got Republican senators, send them an email telling them their days in office are numbered.