Republicans stop House climate change hearing … because only two Democrats showed up

Republicans shut down a hearing about climate change in the House of Representatives with a procedural vote that drives home the importance of just showing up.

House Democrats scheduled a hearing for Tuesday titled “The Denial Playbook: How Industries Manipulate Science and Policy from Climate Change to Public Health” for the Oversight and Investigations subcommittee of the House Natural Resources Committee.

The problem? More Republicans than Democrats showed up for the start of the hearing. So when Republicans wanted to call the whole thing off, Democrats didn’t have the votes to stop them.

I captured the highlights of the vote below, but full video of the short-lived hearing can be found here. (Action starts at 35:44.)

Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, moved to adjourn the hearing, saying that the subject of the hearing was “not within our jurisdiction.” The committee voted, and the motion to adjourn succeeded by a vote of 4-2.

Following the vote, subcommittee Chairman TJ Cox, D-Calif., formally adjourned the hearing but allowed the witnesses to testify in a “Democratic forum” on the subject.

For a political party whose members consistently warn about the apocalyptic dangers of climate change, not bothering to show up for a hearing is a really bad look.

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