In a 17-to-8 vote, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) resolutions committee defeated a resolution calling specifically for a climate-focused debate. It was a raucous meeting with members of the Sunrise Coalition, and representatives of the CDP Environmental and Progressive Caucuses in attendance. The DNC summer meeting coincided with the California Democratic Party’s E-board meeting in the Bay Area, and many of its participants are splitting their time between the two events.
I received this notice in a Progressive Caucus report today:
In case you missed it, our Progressive Caucus joined together with Our Revolution, Roots Action and Progressive Democrats of America to strategize how to make the DNC hold a Climate Change Debate. Instead of reiterating how important this is, progressive activists created step-by-step plans. The next morning, lead by Sunrise Movement, they charged into the Resolutions Meeting (with some fireworks) urging the passing of Resolutions 5 and 7. Although they knew it would not pass, they are now taking their efforts to the General Session, hoping for a floor vote, Tomorrow at 10:30am.
In an interview on CBSN, Sunrise Movement spokesperson, Sofie Karasek, expressed disappointment but also noted a partial victory, when the “DNC passed a resolution out of committee [in seeming defiance of Party Chair, Tom Perez] that would allow candidates to be on the same stage at the same time discussing the climate crisis.”
While the Amazon is on fire I guess we should be thankful for small favors.
In the meantime, 13 presidential hopefuls are scheduled to speak to the Saturday session. Senator Bernie Sanders, who earlier this week visited my home town of Chico, and toured the town of Paradise, which was devastated in last year’s Camp Fire, will be joined by several other top tier candidates including Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, and Elizabeth Warren. Joe Biden, who was also a conspicuous no-show for the CDP convention in SF this June, will not be in attendance this weekend.