The House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis was a select committee established in the 116th United States Congress in 2019 when Democrats regained a majority in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

. Its chair was Congresswoman Kathy Castor of Florida. The committee had no mandate or subpoena power to compel witnesses to testify. Its predecessor was the

United States House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming The House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming was a select or special committee (United States), select committee of the United States House of Representatives. It was established March 8, 2007 through adoption of a resolut ...

, which existed from 2007 to 2011, and was not renewed when Republicans gained control of the House for the 112th Congress.

Nancy Pelosi Nancy Patricia Pelosi ( ; ; born March 26, 1940) is an American politician who was the List of Speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 52nd speaker of the United States House of Representatives, serving from 2007 to 2011 an ...

, in her role as House Minority Leader, called for the Select Committee a week prior to the 2018 House elections, telling ''The'' ''New York Times'' she wanted it to "prepare the way with evidence" for legislation to mitigate climate change. In November and December 2018, youth climate activists with the Sunrise Movement pushed House Democrats to form a select committee with the mandate to draft " Green New Deal" legislation, working with incoming freshman Rep.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (born October 13, 1989), also known as AOC, is an American politician and activist who has served since 2019 as the United States House of Representatives, US representative for New York's 14th congressional distric ...

, who proposed language for the committee's authorization. The activists staged a series of sit-ins in the offices of

Steny Hoyer Steny Hamilton Hoyer ( ; born June 14, 1939) is an American politician and retired attorney who has served as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for since 1981. He also served as House Majority Leader from 2007 to 20 ...

, and Jim McGovern, the incoming Speaker, Majority Leader, and Rules Committee chair. About two dozen Democratic members of Congress supported their proposal, but the incoming chairs of the Energy & Commerce and Natural Resources Committees, Reps. Frank Pallone and Raúl Grijalva, opposed it. The committee held its first field hearing on August 1, 2019, at the University of Colorado Boulder. The witnesses started with Colorado governor

Jared Polis Jared Schutz Polis ( ; ; born May 12, 1975) is an American politician and businessman serving as the 43rd governor of Colorado since 2019. He served one term on the Colorado State Board of Education from 2001 to 2007, and five terms as the Unite ...

, followed by a panel that included the mayors of

Boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In ...

and Fort Collins, an expert in rural agricultural energy issues from

Colorado State University Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado, United States. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University Syst ...

, a representative of the oil and gas industry, and the director of the university's chief sustainability officer. Following the November 2022 elections, the Republican Party obtained a majority in the House of Representatives. Garret Graves, the committee's ranking Republican, expressed an intent to end the committee. On December 14, 2022, the committee released its final report. The committee ceased to exist at the beginning of the 118th Congress on January 3, 2023.

Historical committee rosters

116th Congress

117th Congress

Notes

References

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External links