Now repugican senators Say Climate Change Is Real, ‘But It’s Not Our Fault’

Sounding like kids on a playground, repugican senators on Wednesday admitted something bad has happened, but “we didn’t do it!”

The U.S. Senate voted 98-1 to approve a resolution stating “it is the sense of the Senate that climate change is real and not a hoax.” Then, about 15 minutes later, the Senate rejected a second resolution that said climate change is real and caused by humans.

The first resolution was approved – and co-sponsored – by one of the most outspoken climate deniers in the Senate, Jim Inhofe (r-OK), a man who literally wrote a book on how climate change is the “greatest hoax ever perpetrated.” The only Senator to vote against the resolution was Roger Wicker (r-MS).

Senators agreeing that climate change is real? Well, not exactly. At the last minute, right before a vote was taken, Inhofe took the floor to state that he would be co-sponsoring and approving the amendment on the grounds that yes, climate change is real, but human-caused climate change is not. “Man cannot change climate,” Inhofe said. “The hoax is that there are some people that are so arrogant to think that they are so powerful that they can change climate.”

The resolution was originally put forth by Seator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) as an amendment to the bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline. It was widely seen as a way to corner Republicans – a way for Democrats to say “Fine, if you want to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, you have to go on record about whether you think global warming is real.”

Fortunately, the effort to get every Senator on the record about their stance on human-caused climate change was all for naught. Shortly after the vote on Whitehouse’s resolution, the Senate also took up an amendment from Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI), which stated that climate change is real and that humans contribute to it. That amendment failed, however, following a short speech from Lisa Murkowski (r-AK) saying that the amendment’s inclusion of the word “significantly” — as in, humans “significantly” contribute to global warming — should warrant a “no” vote. Schatz’s amendment failed 50-49 (it needed 60 votes to pass), but it does mean that a slim majority of the U.S. Senate acknowledges that climate science is a real and valid thing.

Among the votes against Schatz’ amendment acknowledging that climate change is real were John McCain (r-AZ) and Rob Portman (r-OH). The repugicans who voted to say that climate change is real and significantly caused by humans included Lamar Alexander (r-TN), Kelly Ayotte (r-NH), Susan Collins (r-ME), Mark Kirk (r-IL), and Lindsey Graham (r-SC).

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-California), ranking Democrat on the Senate’s environmental panel, called the vote “a small victory, but an important one.” The Senate has gone on record to agree that climate change is real, but the governmental body is still split on its causes — other amendments introduced later in the day that attributed climate change to the actions of humans failed to receive the 60 votes required to pass, despite some repugican support. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), who introduced one of the failed amendments, said the vote nonetheless meant there was “a softening of the attitude of the deniers,” and that they were “losing ground in the face of public opinion.”

Schatz said there was “an emerging bipartisan group of people who believe that climate change is real and caused by humans and solvable,” but many repugicans were staunch in their position that people have nothing to do with changing temperatures. Despite his vote, Inhofe called supporters of the theory “arrogant” to believe humans were so powerful, stating that “man can’t change climate.” Others saw the amendments as unnecessary distractions designed to stymie the signing of the contentious Keystone XL bill. “If you’re using climate change as a reason not to build this pipeline,” repugican Lindsey Graham said, “you’re kidding yourself or you’re misleading the public.”

All this foolishness about whether climate change is real and who is or is not to blame, was attached to a bill approving construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. Should the bill — which would see the construction of a vast oil pipeline from Canada to the United States — pass congress, President Obama has promised to veto it.

Will a Presidential veto let the senate off the hook? Will they again be free to deny climate change? Stay tuned.