Science-Denying Troglodyte Ted Cruz to Chair Senate Science Subcommittee

With the GOP takeover of the Senate, all the leadership positions will be filled by Republicans after the first of the year. Two of the most frightening changes will be on the Environment and Public Works Committee and the Subcommittee on Science and Space which will likely be chaired by James Inhofe (R-OK) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) respectively, two of the most adamant climate and science deniers in congress.

Cruz told CNN’s Dana Dash in February that facts contradict what climate scientists have told us about climate change and claimed that the “so-called scientific theory” is designed in such a way as to fit every scenario that may arise.

“The last 15 years, there has been no recorded warming. Contrary to all the theories that – that they are expounding, there should have been warming over the last 15 years. It hasn’t happened,” He told her dusting off the thoroughly debunked myth so often cited by climate deniers.

“Climate change, as they have defined it,” Cruz said, “can never be disproved, because whether it gets hotter or whether it gets colder, whatever happens, they’ll say, well, it’s changing, so it proves our theory.”

Of course, that is false. While there are ups and downs in the short-term, the trend over the last century has been steadily upward.

Cruz does have a solution:, he would remove all environmental regulations and allow drilling anywhere at any time for oil, fracking for gas and unlimited burning of coal.

Inhofe has cited the Bible as evidence that we need not worry about climate change which he has referred to on many occasions as “a hoax.”

“Genesis 8:22 that I use in there is that ‘as long as the earth remains there will be seed time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night.’ My point is, God’s still up there. The arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what He is doing in the climate is to me outrageous.”

These are the men we are going to have in charge of making policy decisions on science for at least the next two years.

WHY WIN THE SENATE WHEN YOU CAN STEAL IT?

Right-wingers love to interpret the Constitution as they see fit. The 1st amendment protects religion, as long as that religion is Christianity. The 2nd amendment was written by God himself and needs no interpretation. The 10th amendment allows states to toss Federal law aside if they don’t like it, and the 14th amendment is the crazy sister locked in the attic that nobody should talk about, since it supersedes the 10th.

The latest constitutional “corruption” opposed by the constituency of crazy comes in the form of a lawsuit out of Texas (go figure), claiming that the 17th amendment, taking election of the senate from state legislatures and giving it to the people, was never properly ratified and therefore is null and void.

The proposed amendment, passed by congress in 1912 and ratified by thirty-six states in 1913, was formally declared by Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, officially making it the 17th amendment. Executive action isn’t required in the ratification of an amendment.

The lawsuit claims that two states, California and Wisconsin, never properly ratified the amendment.

Devvy Kidd, conservative blogger and author of the lawsuit, says that Wisconsin changed some of the text before ratifying, and that California never actually voted.

The reality is that Wisconsin observes the 17th amendment as written regardless of any changes it may have suggested, and while conservatives contend that nobody can find the actual vote by California to ratify, nobody can find any reason to believe California didn’t ratify, especially since the state itself hasn’t offered any resistance. They seem content to accept that they did in fact ratify in 1913.

There is no time limit on ratification of an amendment. The amendment becomes a part of our Constitution when three quarters of the states ratify. In many cases, after ratification, remaining states have been content to abstain, since an amendment becomes the law of the land regardless of their decision at that point. In the case of the 17th amendment, five states ratified after its adoption, bringing the number of states ratifying to forty-one.

The motive behind the lawsuit is clear. If the 17th amendment was tossed out by the federal judiciary, the landscape of the current senate would change dramatically. In a study conducted by the National Constitution Center, under the rules set forth by article V of the Constitution, Republicans would hold fifty-eight seats in the senate, Democrats forty-one, with one seat deadlocked. Republicans would be just 2 votes short of the super-majority needed to overcome the filibuster rule.

The underlying elephant in the room, pun intended, is that if it were ruled that the 17th amendment was invalid, every senate after 1913 and every law passed since then would also be invalid.

Consider the ramifications of that. Having gerrymandered their way to a red house of representatives and stolen the senate, the Republican Party would be one presidential election away from being able to rewrite one hundred plus years of federal law.

Until then our country would be deadlocked and in a state of perpetual lawlessness. Social Security would cease to exist. Tax code would disappear. Wall Street and corporate America would be free from a century of common sense regulation and the environment would go unprotected. The Civil Rights Act. Public assistance. All international treaties. The list is far too long for a single article.

No worries, though. Certainly the Republican-led congress would act with the same air of fairness and equality they are so well-known for.

A GOP Senate's First Target: Elizabeth Warren’s Consumer Protection Agency

If the GOP wins the Senate, they'll no doubt use the opportunity to push through a range of measures that are kryptonite to Democratic voters—new abortion restrictions, limits on the ability of the Environmental Protection Agency to combat climate change, a relaxation of the rules reining in Wall Street's worst excesses.

But Republicans are particularly keen on handicapping one particular federal watchdog: the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the three-year-old agency that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) devised and helped build in the wake of the financial crisis.

The bureau's job is to make sure Americans aren't getting screwed by mortgage lenders, credit card companies, debt collectors, and other financial institutions. It's the first federal agency designed specifically to protect everyday consumers from financial wrongdoing, and Republicans have done everything in their power to hobble the agency—including fighting the confirmation of its director, Richard Cordray. Winning the Senate in November could be their best chance to roll back Warren's greatest accomplishment.

Half of their work is already done. The House has passed a bill that would limit the bureau's power by replacing its director with a five-member panel, and subjecting its budget to the congressional appropriations process—meaning that hostile lawmakers could starve it to death. (Unlike most federal agencies, the bureau is bankrolled by the Federal Reserve, an effort to free it from the whims of partisan politics.) House Republicans have also introduced legislation to let other financial regulators overturn CFPB rules, to eliminate a fund the bureau uses to compensate consumers who've been defrauded by an institution that's gone belly-up, and to restrict the kind of data the bureau may collect from consumers. (Republicans have charged that the CFPB's collection of credit data is a violation of privacy, even though the bureau does not collect any personal details the consumer doesn't volunteer.)

The Democratic-controlled Senate has refused to consider these types of bills from the House, but the floodgates would open with a GOP takeover. "You just have to watch the House to see what is going to come out of the Senate," says a Senate Democratic staffer who works on banking issues.

Senate Advances Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) in 61-30 Cloture Vote

The Senate has approved the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, invoking cloture in a 61-30 vote. The final debate and vote will likely come later this week.

On the Republican side, Senators Ayotte, Collins, Hatch, Heller, Kirk, Portman, and Toomey voted in the affirmative.

The fight in the House of Representatives will be tough.

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White House Press Secretary Jay Carney released the following statement after the Senate vote:

The President welcomes the Senate’s bipartisan first step towards final passage of S. 815, the Employment Non‑Discrimination Act of 2013.  He has long supported an inclusive ENDA, which would establish lasting and comprehensive Federal protections against employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.  He thanks the lawmakers from both sides of the aisle who have stood up for America’s core values of fairness and equality, and looks forward to the Senate’s consideration of ENDA.  He also encourages lawmakers to ensure that the legislation remains true to its goals as it is considered.

Senate Committee Passes ENDA, Now Heads to Full Senate for a Vote

Long-sought protections for LGBT Americans from discrimination in employment took a first step forward today as it was passed through a Senate committee on a bipartisan vote.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, 15 to 7, advancing the bill that would prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

The bill, which does not contain religious exemptions, now heads to the full Senate, where it has a solid majority in favor with 53 cosponsors. But a majority doesn't guarantee passage in the Senate since so many bills are now filibustered, requiring 60 votes to break.

Run Sarah Run!

Sarah Palin may run for the U.S. Senate in Alaska, Politico reports:

“I’ve considered it because people have requested me considering it, but I’m still waiting to see what the lineup will be and hoping that … there will be some new blood, some new energy,” the former governor told Sean Hannity during an appearance on his radio show.

Two Republicans have already announced challenges to Democratic freshman Sen. Mark Begich: Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell and 2010 GOP nominee Joe Miller.

“We’d meet with any Alaskan interested in challenging Mark Begich,” National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesman Brad Dayspring told POLITICO, “and Governor Palin is right in that Begich abandoned his campaign promises — most notably by being the deciding vote on ObamaCare — and must be repealed and replaced.”

News from Capitol Hill

Senator Martin Heinrich from New Mexico becomes the first U.S. Senator to pose for the #NOH8 Campaign! Thank you, Senator Heinrich!