Democrats Make Last-Minute Push To Derail Trumps Environmental Nominee

Democrats are mounting a last-ditch effort to push Kathleen Hartnett-White, President Donald Trumps controversial pick to lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality, to withdraw her nomination.

With Republican efforts firmly focused on passing their tax overhaul bill, the Senate is unlikely to squeeze in confirmation votes for the remaining nominees before dispersing for the holidays. As a result, Senate leadership is required to table the nominations through a procedure known as a unanimous consent request essentially agreeing to pick up where they left off in the confirmation process when the Senate reconvenes.

On Tuesday, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) vowed in a press release to oppose any unanimous consent agreement that included Hartnett-Whites nomination. Excluding her would send her nomination back to the White House to begin the confirmation process anew during the next legislative session.

Earlier this month, Democrats accused Hartnett-White of plagiarism in her written responses to questions on climate change, environmental justice and air pollutants.

In his announcement, Carper cited her history of making bombastic statements untethered to scientific evidence. She has described carbon dioxide as a harmless trace gas and plant food , compared Pope Francis public calls to combat global warming to the Catholic Churchs arrest of Galileo for heresy in 1633, and credited fossil fuels for abolishing slavery. Last month, more than 300 scientists signed a letter urging the Senate to reject her on the grounds that one thing more dangerous than climate change is lying.

There is no doubt that her views are extreme and, often times, her words are staggeringly inappropriate, Carper said in a statement to HuffPost. But they are her words that she has used repeatedly, and we cannot ignore them.

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