The Keystone XL amendments are causing some confusion as to whether or not Congress accepts the reality of climate change. This is because some stories went out saying "Senate Votes 98-1 That Climate Change 'Is Not A Hoax'," but as usual, reality is slightly more complex.
So far, the Senate has voted on three climate amendments, with another from Sanders (I-VT) in the works. The first simply stated that climate change is real and not a hoax. That one passed 98-1, with stalwart denier Sen Inhofe (R-OK) jumping in at the last minute as a co-signer. While initially surprising, his follow-up commentary asserted that all climate change is natural, not man-made. So Inhofe's modus operandi here was to ignore the universally adopted UNFCCC definition of climate change—which states that it is "a change of climate attributed directly or indirectly to human activity"—to pretend natural climate change (which occurs slowly over thousands of years) has any relevance to policymaking and the debate at hand.
The other two amendments, which included language saying climate change is human-caused, failed. One, by Republican senator John Hoeven, fell a single vote short of the 60 needed for adoption. The other, by Democrat Brian Schatz, failed with 50 votes for and 49 against. Encouragingly, five members of the GOP endorsed the Schatz amendment, stating human activities "significantly" alter the climate. After endorsing, one Senator (Graham R-SC) went on to say that the Democrats' solutions would turn the economy upside-down.
In all, these non-binding resolutions may not be shockingly monumental, but the vote does at least mean most of the GOP has abandoned the "it's not happening" line, stepping one rung down the denial ladder to "it's natural."
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