I was alerted to this by a Huffington Post report by Kate Sheppard.
The amendment, from Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.), passed in what was nearly a party-line vote. Four Democrats voted for the amendment, and three Republicans voted against it. The bill aims to block the DOD from taking any significant action related to climate change or its potential consequences. It reads:
None of the funds authorized to be appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used to implement the U.S. Global Change Research Program National Climate Assessment, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fifth Assessment Report, the United Nation's Agenda 21 sustainable development plan, or the May 2013 Technical Update of the Social Cost of Carbon for Regulatory Impact Analysis Under Executive Order 12866.
UPI has also picked up on the story.
"In Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, we are already seeing how the impacts of extreme weather, such as prolonged drought and flooding -- and resulting food shortages, desertification, population dislocation and mass migration, and sea level rise -- are posing security challenges to these regions' governments. We see these trends growing and accelerating," reads a report from the Center for Naval Analyses Military Advisory Board .
The Pentagon itself in its later 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review said: "Climate change poses another significant challenge for the United States and the world at large. As greenhouse gas emissions increase, sea levels are rising, average global temperatures are increasing, and severe weather patterns are accelerating."
McKinley's reference to UN Agenda 21 is a deliberate shout-out to the wingnuts running the Republican Party. Can we finally get some acknowledgment from the media that the Republican Party has, as Charles P. Pierce puts it, eaten the monkey brains and gotten prion disease? It would be nice if the Democrats started calling out the GOP on its embrace of delusional policies and its continuing problem with being reality-challenged.
Seriously though, I was wondering when this was going to happen. The Republican Party can't deal with the modern world - but then the toxic conservatism that they represent is doing its best to make this the Age of Endarkenment.
Sun May 25, 2014 at 8:05 AM PT: UPDATE: A small request. It would be a good thing to Like this on Facebook and Tweet - because otherwise this is likely to disappear into the Memorial Weekend news void. (I rather suspect McKinley is counting on that.)