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House Republicans Propose Climate Change Solutions

April 27, 2021

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Top Congressional Republicans are proposing solutions to climate change. Their ambitious platform suggests natural changes addressing food, farming, and forestry, while protecting the economy.

"We know the climate changes," said Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.), the top Republican on the House Agriculture Committee. "That debate is over."

Now, Thompson and a group of House Republicans have introduced what they are calling common sense solutions to combatting climate change. Thompson, alongside House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy recently introduced a series of bills proposing natural solutions to reduce greenhouse gases and improve the environment.

"What we're talking about… These are things that are just natural that we could be doing now," McCarthy said during a roundtable with lawmakers last week.

Collectively, House Republicans introduced a series of 30 bills in all that largely take a market-based approach to climate changes. That includes the Trillion Trees Act, or private-sector partnerships allowing farmers to modernize equipment and facilities to reduce their carbon footprint.

"The number one thing we could do to reduce greenhouse gases around the world is for American farmers and ranchers to grow and produce more and export it," Thompson suggested.

The Republican proposal comes as Democrats last week re-introduced the controversial Green New Deal, which calls for a rapid transition from fossil fuels to green energy. The bill failed in the Senate last Congress.

"In the past 40 years, our productivity of United States agriculture has gone up 287 percent," Thompson added.

Thompson represents the second-geographically largest congressional district in Pennsylvania, much of it encompassing the Allegheny National Forest and rural farmland.

For him, the issue is personal. He also hopes these plans, some of which have bipartisan support, will bring climate change skeptics into the fold.

Issues:Agriculture