White House, amid record heat, accuses Republicans of 'radical, head-in-the-sand' climate denying
WASHINGTON − Amid record heat across the United States, the White House accused Republicans Wednesday of "doubling down on climate denial" as President Joe Biden visited the scorching Southwest.
A more combative approach on the climate front was reflected in a White House memo that singled out congressional Republicans by name for their comments casting doubt on the legitimacy of climate change while they oppose Biden's push to expand clean-energy manufacturing.
"This radical, head-in-the-sand approach would cost lives while selling the American middle class out to China, who is racing to beat the United States on clean energy investment," Andrew Bates, deputy White House press secretary, wrote in the memo.
The White House called out remarks by several Republicans who disagree with climate science including two of Biden's favorite targets: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.
Greene last year, the White House memo says, "bizarrely" claimed that climate change is "actually healthy for us." Biden plans to visit Greene's congressional district later this year to tout a future $2.5 billion solar manufacturing facility planned by South Korea-based Hanwha Qcells.
The White House seized on comments from Tuberville dismissing the record heat wave. “There is a very scientific word for this: It’s called summer,” Tuberville told reporters last month.
Biden, in an interview with the Weather Channel that aired Wednesday, called climate change "the existential threat to humanity" and pointed out that all congressional Republicans' voted against the Inflation Reduction Act, his signature climate law.
"Not a single, solitary person in the other party voted for my $368 billion climate change" plan, Biden said. "Not one of them."
Biden visited the Grand Canyon Tuesday, unveiling plans to protect nearby tribal lands from uranium mining and highlighting $44 million investment in federal funds for climate resilience across the national parks system. Biden on Wednesday visited Albuquerque, New Mexico to attend a groundbreaking for Arcosa, a wind tower manufacturing facility that is expanding operations.
The projects are the result of funding in the Inflation Reduction Act, which Biden signed into law last year. Some Republicans have slammed incentives for clean energy included in the law as tax giveaways to green companies.
“In the face of all-time high temperatures, rather than supporting President Biden’s life-saving and economy-bolstering climate actions, congressional Republicans are doubling down on climate denial,” Bates said in the memo.
He said the Republican alternative would "worsen climate pollution, lose more Americans to extreme weather, and kill and offshore the good-paying jobs that Bidenomics is delivering in manufacturing and clean energy."
Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison.