"Climate Debate’s Uncertainty Hangs Heavy Over Democratic Party Meeting
Many of the 2020 candidates at the Democratic National Committee gathering were silent on climate change, underscoring concerns it’s getting scant attention"
SAN FRANCISCO ― Mounting friction over the need for a single-issue debate on climate change was the elephant in the room Friday as the Democratic National Committee convened for the second day of its annual summer meeting.
www.huffpost.com/…
SAN FRANCISCO ― Mounting friction over the need for a single-issue debate on climate change was the elephant in the room Friday as the Democratic National Committee convened for the second day of its annual summer meeting.
Friday’s event in downtown San Francisco, which was largely dedicated to short speeches from 13 of the candidates, came a day after the DNC’s resolutions committee voted 17-8 against such a debate.
Activists fed up with the party’s opposition to a debate on climate ― which got only 12 minutes of airtime during last month’s Democratic debates ― flooded the room in outrage Thursday. Tensions from that standoff lingered Friday as delegates assembled to hear directly from the 2020 candidates.
“I’m a little disappointed at the lack of climate change debate happening, personally,” New Mexico delegate Marcus Porter, 33, said after the first round of candidate statements.
“But we’re trying to stay positive,” he added, noting that a petition is circulating to bring the proposal to the floor during the full committee’s general session on Saturday.
But even Tina Podlodowski, the DNC member planning to present the resolution again Saturday has admitted that it’s a long shot, according to Vice News. Party leaders haven’t indicated much willingness to budge on the issue despite nearly every presidential contender supporting such a debate.
Protesters with the influential youth-led climate group Sunrise Movement, which had about 100 activists storming Thursday’s vote, also kept the issue alive Friday. Sofie Karasek, a spokesperson for the group, estimated they had about 250 demonstrators show up Friday, chanting outside the Hilton Hotel and holding signs that read, “This is an emergency. Act like it.”
14 candidates asking for Climate debate:
(+Biden now=15)
Jay Inslee April 17 [U.S. Youth Climate Strike, Twitter]
Kirsten Gillibrand April 17 [Daily Beast]
Mike Gravel April 19 [U.S. Youth Climate Strike, Twitter]
Julián Castro April 22 [Julian Castro, Twitter]
Tim Ryan April 22 [Tim Ryan, Twitter]
Andrew Yang May 6 [U.S. Youth Climate Strike, Twitter]
Beto O’Rourke May 6 [U.S. Youth Climate Strike, Twitter]
Bernie Sanders May 6 [U.S. Youth Climate Strike, Twitter] (promoted by Sanders on May 7)
Elizabeth Warren May 20 [Elizabeth Warren, Twitter]
Amy Klobuchar May 23 [U.S. Youth Climate Strike, Twitter]
Michael Bennet May 29 [Politico]
John Delaney June 4 [John Delaney]
Tulsi Gabbard June 6 [Gabbard press assistant Cullen Tiernan, Twitter]
Seth Moulton June 7 [Seth Moulton, Twitter]
14 candidates asking for Climate debate
“DNC Chair Tom Perez Introduced a Resolution That Could Kill a Climate Debate”
The DNC membership has been split on this, and activists are angry.www.motherjones.com/...When members of the Democratic National Committee meet in San Francisco later this month, they will likely consider a resolution introduced by DNC Chair Tom Perez this week that activists say would kill chances of a formal, DNC-sponsored debate devoted to climate change. Since April, the campaign for a climate debate has grown from a far-fetched request from environmentalists and Jay Inslee to scoring endorsements from nearly the entire primary field.
Perez’s “Resolution Recommitting the Democratic Party to the Work of Combating Climate Change and Creating Jobs by Growing Our Clean Energy Economy” was added on Thursday to the docket of proposals to be considered by the DNC’s resolutions committee ahead of an August 22 meeting in San Franciscowww.motherjones.com/...
at the very end of his proposal is a section that suggests the existing debate formats plus the two unofficial climate forums that are already scheduled in September should take the place of a debate:www.motherjones.com/...
Climate activists, however, say this is Perez’s attempt to end demands for a full debate exclusively devoted to questions surrounding climate change.www.motherjones.com/...
“The DNC has a choice to make,” Prakash said. “Will it allow the American public to judge which candidates will take the climate crisis as seriously as science and justice demand? Or will it allow millions of lives and livelihoods to fall by the wayside?”
Here’s the resolution, shared with Mother Jones by a member of the DNC:www.motherjones.com/...
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