SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
rick scott
The Heat Is on to Elect a Climate Champion in Florida
If elected to the Senate, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell’s consistent, dedicated support for both climate adaptation and mitigation actions will help Florida and the nation move toward a more livable, resilient future.
Oct 04, 2024
Leaving home on a south Florida summer day, we’re typically greeted with a wall of hot, humid air. We Floridians are quite familiar with long and languorous summertime mornings, oftentimes followed by afternoon thunderstorms. Summertime is also accompanied by the possibility of a hurricane–something we’re witnessing again right now in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
So far, we’ve usually responded by spending fistfuls of money on air conditioning to cool inside spaces, avoiding the midday sun if we can, and getting out of town for cooler climes if we have the means. Such aspects of life in the Sunshine State are the trade-off for basking in the abundant sunshine, warm temperatures, and tropical landscape of our so-called “winter.”
But it’s getting harder than ever to enjoy the summer outdoors. And summer is only getting longer.
If we want to protect the great outdoors in our state—and, even more so, protect those communities most vulnerable to extreme weather and climate change impacts—the stakes of this election are clear.
The number of heat advisories we’ve had the last few years seems endless. Those should be raising red flags for even the most adamant climate deniers. The heat is not going away. If anything, it’s going to get worse. And it threatens our health and well-being in the process.
For example, WPTV reported that “Palm Beach County projects that by 2040, we’ll see between 35 and 49 days with highs over 95°F in a year. By 2070, that number could be between 81 and 112 days, according to the county’s projections.”
A recent story in The Washington Post described a possible nightmare scenario, where a hurricane knocks out power for 48 hours in the midst of a heatwave. The suffering and health emergencies in such an instance would be dramatic and especially impactful for the economically distressed and elderly. South Floridians experienced a similar such scenario in 2017 during Hurricane Irma, when the power failed at a nursing home in Hollywood and nine residents died when inside temperatures soared. The reality of the climate crisis means that, sadly, this won’t be the last time we experience such tragedies.
Reducing the likelihood of hot days and other climate change impacts is an existential challenge for the state of Florida if it hopes to protect the safety of its citizens. And it is why we need to elect climate champions this November who can address the root causes of climate change—greenhouse gas emissions—and guide us to a more livable future.
The tightening U.S. Senate race in Florida, between Debbie Mucarsel-Powell and Rick Scott, features candidates who take very different views of climate change and how to address it. The Senate majority, and with it, the future of climate change investments funded by the Inflation Reduction Act, could very well be decided by this race. The IRA is supercharging the transition to clean energy. The choice for south Floridians should be clear if we want to slow the climate threat.
Debbie Mucarsel-Powell is a dedicated climate champion. Time and time again, she has shown herself willing to address both climate adaptation—repairing and preventing climate change caused damage—and mitigation—reducing the sources of greenhouse gas emissions. She has been characterized as a “leading freshman voice on environmental issues, especially water policy” during her time in the House of Representatives, where she introduced legislation to protect coral reefs and secure annual funding for restoration of the Everglades. She also unveiled a report in fall 2020 with fellow House of Representative members Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) and Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) about how climate action will bring important health and economic benefits to the Sunshine State. If elected to the Senate, her consistent, dedicated support for both climate adaptation and mitigation actions will help Florida and the nation move toward a more livable, resilient future.
As governor, Scott reportedly nixed the mere mention of “climate change.” In recent years, he has acknowledged that climate change is real, but he has opposed important climate change mitigation measures, such as the Green New Deal and the Inflation Reduction Act. Egregiously, now-Senator Scott did not sign onto a letter in 2023 calling on the Biden administration to implement an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) workplace federal heat standard—which would have helped workers cope with the heat while on the job. He is willing to help fund particular impact remedies such as beach renourishment and even Everglades restoration, but adaptation measures alone are not sufficient for slowing the source of the problem. Senator Scott remains unwilling to support the kind of clean energy legislation that is absolutely necessary to put our state on a better path when it comes to climate.
As a hiker, biker, and gardener, I love Florida’s outdoors. If we want to protect the great outdoors in our state—and, even more so, protect those communities most vulnerable to extreme weather and climate change impacts—the stakes of this election are clear. We cannot miss the chance to move our state toward a future that takes climate action seriously.
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Method to His Madness': Sanders Warns Trump Is Setting Stage for Election Denial
"What Trump is doing is laying the groundwork for rejecting the election results if he loses," the U.S. senator said.
Aug 13, 2024
Independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont warned Tuesday that former President Donald Trump, the 2024 Republican nominee, is laying the groundwork for another round of election denial if he loses to Vice President Kamala Harris in November.
Taking aim at Trump's false claim that a photo showing thousands of people waiting to greet Harris and her Democratic running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, at a Michigan airport is a fake generated by artificial intelligence, Sanders said in a statement that "Donald Trump may be crazy, but he's not stupid."
"When he claims that 'nobody' showed up at a 10,000-person Harris-Walz rally in Michigan that was livestreamed and widely covered by the media, that it was all AI, and that Democrats cheat all of the time, there is a method to his madness," the senator continued.
"Clearly, and dangerously, what Trump is doing is laying the groundwork for rejecting the election results if he loses," Sanders argued. "If you can convince your supporters that thousands of people who attended a televised rally do not exist, it will not be hard to convince them that the election returns in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and elsewhere are 'fake' and 'fraudulent.'"
"This is what destroying faith in institutions is about. This is what undermining democracy is about. This is what fascism is about," he added. "This is why we must do everything we can to see that Trump is defeated."
Trump infamously tried to overturn the results of his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden, an effort that culminated in the January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection and resulted in a historic second impeachment by the then-Democrat-controlled House of Representatives and a slew of federal and state felony charges in two separate election interference cases.
As his polling lead evaporates amid surging liberal enthusiasm over the Harris-Walz ticket, Trump has reverted to his oft-repeated 2020 claim that if he loses, it will be due to "cheating."
Trump, his running mate Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), and many Republican officials have recently ramped up attacks on undocumented immigrants. Although the myth of the "illegal immigrant voters" has been widely debunked—including by right-wing groups—Republicans and others including billionaire businessman Elon Musk, who interviewed Trump on his social media platform X Monday evening, have been amplifying false claims about undocumented voters affecting the outcome of the election.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.)—who led the legal fight to overturn the 2020 election results—also recently accused undocumented immigrants of attempting to "disrupt our elections."
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.)—one of just eight senators who refused to certify Biden's 2020 Electoral College victory—said in July: "I traveled to the future to an imaginary world where actually Joe Biden got reelected... In my dream I met the ghost of Biden's future... It was easy for Democrats to rig the elections; they simply allowed all the noncitizens to vote."
On Monday, the government watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) published a report revealing that 35 county officials around the country who were involved in efforts to subvert the 2020 election are still in positions to do so again.
"I think there's almost no question that this is going to happen," CREW president Noah Bookbinder said of another attempt to overturn the election. "And it seems to be happening in a way this year that is more systematic than it has been in the past. So that's deeply, deeply concerning."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Republican Who Once Proposed Sunsetting Social Security Floats Leadership Bid
Scott, the richest member of the U.S. Senate, also proposed hiking taxes on low-income Americans.
Mar 02, 2024
Republican Sen. Rick Scott said Friday that he is "seriously considering" a bid to succeed Sen. Mitch McConnell as leader of the Senate GOP caucus, an announcement that brought renewed attention to his previous support for sunsetting all federal programs every five years—including Social Security and Medicare.
Scott (R-Fla.), who lost a challenge to McConnell (R-Ky.) in 2022, said in an appearance on "The Charlie Kirk Show" that McConnell's decision to step down as Republican leader at the end of the year represents "a big opportunity."
"We could actually have somebody that actually believes in this country and believes in solving the problems of this country running the Senate when we get a majority in November," said Scott, who is up for reelection this year. "We could make big change."
Two years ago, Scott—then serving as head of the Senate GOP's campaign committee—released an agenda under which "all federal legislation" would lapse and require reauthorization by Congress every five years. Critics were quick to note that Scott's plan would entail sunsetting Social Security, Medicare, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and other key laws.
McConnell, no friend of Social Security, was among those who pushed back on Scott's proposal, forcing him to belatedly amend it to exempt Social Security and Medicare from the five-year sunsetting process.
Scott, the richest U.S. senator, also proposed hiking taxes on low-income Americans. He dropped the plan after facing backlash.
Oh, you mean Democratic ad makers are going to be able to cite "potential Republican Senate leader Rick Scott" and his plans to sunset Social Security and Medicare while raising taxes on half the population? https://t.co/Ux4jY4O9uw
— Brendan Duke (@Brendan_Duke) March 1, 2024
So far, only Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) has officially announced his candidacy for the GOP leadership position, though Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.)—the number two Senate Republican—John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) are other potential contenders, along with Scott.
Prior to his tenure in the U.S. Senate and as Florida's governor, Scott served as CEO of a hospital company that was hit with a total of $1.7 billion in fines for defrauding Medicare. At the time, the Justice Department described it as "the largest healthcare fraud case in U.S. history."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular