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 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 will speak in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Wednesday at 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, Biden’s signature climate law that he signed last year. Every congressional Republican voted against the Inflation Reduction Act, with many slamming incentives for clean energy 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 wrote.
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.
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