The House Republicans want to prevent the Defense Department from dealing with a national security threat (http://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2016/06/republicans-trying-to-stop-pentagon-climate-plan-000149).

The Defense Department sees that climate change is a threat and wants to prepare for it (http://www.defense.gov/Portals/1/Documents/pubs/471521p.pdf). But many Republicans seem to think it a hoax and those in Congress are so sure of themselves that they think they should stop the military from preparing for this threat.

The bill has passed in the House by a vote of 216-205. Of the 216, all were Republicans. Of the 205, there were 24 Republicans and 181 Democrats (http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2016/roll314.xml). So it is clearly a case of Republicans vs military. The 10% of Republicans who opposed their party should be commended for their courage in opposing the will and ignorance of their party.

The bill is currently stalled in the Senate after 2 votes to end debate. That is, the bill is being filibustered. It is noteworthy that all voting to continue the filibuster are Democrats ( http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=114&session=2&vote=00133). Once again it seems to be Republicans vs military.

Here is the offending section of the bill:

H.R. 5293: Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2017

Sec. 10013.
None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available in this Act may be used to implement Department of Defense Directive 4715.21 on Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience.

Or if you want to read the whole bill, look at https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/114/hr5293/text

We need to fund our military. Republicans have shown a rare ability to add poison pills to “must pass” bills. See my previous posts on Zika funding. Let’s hope the Republicans decide to allow the military to prepare for the future.