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Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson recently held an alternative hearing on climate change for members of Congress and the public, defying the leadership of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. Johnson, ranking member of the committee and a Democrat who represents the 30th district of Texas, decided to hold what she calls a round table on global warming because she feels that the committee chairLamar Smith (RTexas)has not allowed real climate experts to speak about their research at the hearings he has run. Instead, she says, Smith gives climate change deniers a platform to express their views.

Johnson says this problem is not confined to global warming, and that under Smiths leadership the committee does not focus enough on science issues in general. So Johnson plans to host a series of these round tables on issues such as ocean acidification, environmental justice, artificial intelligence and more. Scientific American asked Smiths staff for comments on the alternative hearings and Johnsons remarks but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Scientific American spoke with Johnson about her plans for the round tables and what she hopes they will accomplish.

[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]

You held a climate change round table late last month. What did it entail? Its important that the science behind global climate change be acknowledged. And clearly, at the rate were going with the leadership in the current [House Science] Committee, its probably not going to happen. So we wanted to make sure that the scientific information had an opportunity to be discussed. We had that [round table], and we plan to have several more to discuss a number of topicsbut [climate change] is certainly an important one. We had two panels: one with experts who could talk about the research as well as the effects of whats happening with the climate. The second panel had to do with the international view, from ambassadors as well as participants in the [2015] Paris [climate] conference, to show that this is a world viewdeniers might be confined to the United States.

Why not discuss these issues during the standard House Science Committee hearings? Because the chairman in the majority has control over what is discussed, and we have not been successful in getting [climate change] discussed with actual scientific research. Whenever the topic has come to the surface, we get at most fringe witnessespeople who agree to be in denial. The experts who do the research on a daily basis are never allowed to speak during the regular order of business. In my judgment the country is moving backwards with this type of committee leadership. But we dont want the public to believe that its the entire committee. There are people on the committee who believe strongly in research, the National Science Foundation, the Environmental Protection Agency and in NASA. So we have no choice but to attempt to do some alternative hearings to make sure that people are aware that we do believe in science, and that it should be discussedwe should not deny good research. Its an opportunity to listen to a view that we never hear on the committee.

What do you currently see happening with science issues in the House Science Committee? There really is not much focus on the science. Its focused on the administration or against the agencies, and its always an approach of suspicion and denial.

Would you say that applies only to climate change or science issues in general? Its science issues in general. Im in my third term of dealing with this particular chairman. And almost exclusively, the goals seem to have been pointed against anything the Obama administration had made any type of goals onthe attitude was to be against it. Now the attitude is to cut the agencies that are doing the research in these areasas if to say: Were not going to even listen to them. We dont want them to do the research.

You are planning to do a series of round tables. What issues do you want them to focus on? We need to look at the public health implications of climate change, ocean acidification, environmental justice, biological engineering, forensic science, artificial intelligencethere are a number of issues that were not getting the opportunity to have honest hearings on under the leadership of this committee. We cannot afford to sit idly by and let those topics slide as if they dont have an impact today.

What do you hope these round tables will accomplish? I dont know the impact they might have on Congress, because those of us who are interested in getting the scientific evidence at this time appear to be Democratsalthough we know there are members on the other side who are not blinded to this information. But they are influenced by their leadership. But its foolhardy for us to just give in and act as if nothing is happening, just because the leadership feels that way. So I feel an obligation to respond to the public. Whether we can get [anything] done will depend on the committee leadership, and this administrations leadership. When you look at the cabinet that this president [Donald Trump] has put in place, it does appear that they are in agreement with each other that theyre going be in denial [about climate change], and if they dont like the research, they stop it. Well, that is not how we got to where we are on the world stage, and I dont think we should step off the stage as if were going to stop thinking and living for the future.

Is this the beginning of a larger effort by some members to change attitudes toward science in Congress? I cannot begin to guess why the attitude persists from this leadership for us to go backwards. But what I can say is, Im not willing to cooperate with it. We might be hampered temporarily, but we want the public to understand that we do not have our heads in the sand. Were getting a lot of positive feedback from the general public. People are very concerned about climate change, about environmental safety, about the conditions of our water and air. That concern continues to be expressed, and we feel an obligation to be responsive. At the rate were going, though, I dont know how much we can do.

Are you concerned that elected officials are putting less stock in evidence-based thinking? If so, what larger steps could help stop or even reverse this trend? A leading nation cannot afford to be governed by ignorance for more than a very short period of time. The leadership that we have on this committee is out of step, and people will react to it. The facts are real. The world is aware of [climate change]. And we look like a group of ignoramuses, saying, Its not happening. The people of this nation will not tolerate that for very long. This attitude is so temporary and backwards that its worth pushing ahead to the extent that we canto continue to acknowledge the scientific evidence, and hope that we dont lose too much ground.

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Democrat Tackles Climate Change Issues, Defying GOP Leadership - Scientific American

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BY: Charles Fain Lehman July 5, 2017 3:44 pm

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is field-testing a new bumper sticker slogan that says, "Democrats 2018: I mean, have you seen the other guys?"

Theproposed slogan appeared in an email from the DCCC askingsubscribers to vote on which new bumper sticker they would like to own.

The largely negative campaign angle earneda less-than-enthusiastic reception in some quarters ofTwitter.

Other proposed slogans included "she persisted, we resisted" and "make Congress blue again."

The National Republican Congressional Committee responded with its own bumper sticker idea for the DCCC, proposing, "Democrats 2018: We win moral victories, not elections."

According to an April poll, more Americans consider the Democratic Party "out of touch" than are either the Republican Party or President Donald Trump.

UPDATED 4:59 P.M.: This post was updated to include a tweet from theNational Republican Congressional Committee.

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New Democrat Slogan: 'I Mean, Have You Seen the Other Guys?' - Washington Free Beacon

(Tim Larsen/Governors Office)

The budget battle fought over changes to Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield could have been resolved another way by erasing some $325 million in spending added to the budget by Democratic lawmakers, roughly half of it for increased school aid.

Democrats, particularly Senate President Stephen Sweeney, wouldnt entertain the idea even when state services were partially shut down, including state parks over much of the holiday weekend.

Im sorry for the inconvenience that everyone went through, but at the end of the day we have one hell of a budget that we can be proud of, said Sweeney, D-Gloucester.

For me, and I know the speaker also, we cared a great deal about the finances that are in this budget, Sweeney said. Its the best budget weve seen in 10 years. It provides for a lot of people. And thats what we cared about.

Gov. Chris Christie made clear, in public and privately to lawmakers, that hed use his line-item veto authority to erase those 73 items, and perhaps others, if bills were also approved making changes to Horizon and transferring lottery profits to the state pension funds for the next 30 years.

In order to get them to agree to those smart fiscal and governance reforms, I needed to give them more spending than Ive ever given them before. Thats the nature of compromise. Thats why I did it, said Christie, who said the budget is a more Democrat budget than hed want.

Listen, its not the spending that I would have chosen. But thats the nature of compromise, he said.

Will Horizon changes that held up budget have much impact?

Christie didnt totally put down his line-item veto pen.

While he didnt reduce or delete line items, he did remove language from the budget that Democrats had added in consequential ways.

For instance, he took language that would have restored whats known as Heat and Eat benefits, connecting nutritional benefits to home-heating assistance. Rule changes in 2014 reduced nutritional benefits to around 159,000 New Jersey households by $90 a month.

The provision would cost the state $3.2 million to put into the budget, said Adele LaTourette, director of the New Jersey Anti-Hunger Coalition.

Its critical, particularly when were looking at whats happening at the federal level, that the state do as much as it can to reinforce the importance of SNAP and make sure that benefits go to people who are elderly and disabled who are, by far, the most needy, LaTourette said.

Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto, D-Hudson, said the vetoes also eliminate a requirement that $25 million Democrats added for preschool expansion goes to districts with high concentrations of at-risk students and keep in place a family cap that denies welfare assistance for children born to a mother already getting Work First NJ benefits.

Prieto, who fought with Christie over the budget, said the vetoes at another glimpse at Gov. Christies bad character and why he should never have been trusted.

Gov. Christie has broken his word yet again, and no one should be surprised, Prieto said in a prepared statement. Anyone who contends Gov. Christie is an honest man has spent too much time sitting in the sun with him or in traffic on the George Washington Bridge.

Christie spokesman Brian Murray said the governor agreed to enact 73 specific budget requests, not every language provision.

The governor kept his word, Murray said. The governor never agreed to sign an unbalanced budget by preserving every additional spending request sneakily tucked into the budget and not paid for by revenue. Speaker Prietos statement is false and all the honest parties to our agreement know it.

In addition to the preschool funding, The Democratic additions to the budget increase education aid by $100 million and redistribute $31 million in previously awarded aid toward more underfunded districts. At Christies request, it budget also adds $25 million for extraordinary special education aid.

Democrats additions to the education budget also included $23.8 million for aid to nonpublic schools for security, transportation, nursing and technology.

Among the other additions:

In the end, the budget passed mostly but not entirely along party lines.

The vote was closest in the Senate, where it passed 21-14. Three of the 24 Democrats were absent from the hastily called midnight session, and Sen. Jeff Van Drew, D-Cape May, voted against it meaning it would have been one vote short of passage, except that Sen. Michael Doherty, R-Warren, voted for it.

In the Assembly, where the vote was 55-21, six of the 28 Republicans voted for the budget: Chris Brown, Robert Clifton, Ronald Dancer, Sean Kean, Kevin Rooney and David Russo.

I will admit that there is much not to like in this budget. But more importantly and as an overview there is much to be pleased with, said Assemblyman Gary Schaer, D-Passaic.

Priorities paid for with money that we dont have is not a real commitment to those priorities, said Assemblyman Declan OScanlon, R-Monmouth. While this budget is not as bad as some previous budgets that weve passed, where we spent billions of dollars that we didnt have, this one still spends hundreds of millions of dollars of essentially fabricated money.

OScanlon said he shares Democrats concerns for the good causes the extra money funds. But ultimately our highest priority needs to be to fiscal sanity and reality and the understanding that our constituents pockets are not made out of inexhaustible fountains of cash, he said.

New Jersey: Decoded cuts through the cruft and gets to what matters in New Jersey news and politics. Follow on Facebook and Twitter.

Michael Symons is State House bureau chief for New Jersey 101.5 and the editor of New Jersey: Decoded. Follow @NJDecoded on Twitter and Facebook. Contact him at michael.symons@townsquaremedia.com

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What's in the 'Democrat budget' Christie signed and why they're mad anyway - New Jersey 101.5 FM Radio

QUEENSBURY A graduation party photo has turned into a political attack against Republican Assemblyman Dan Stec.

He was photographed at a high school graduation party standing with two good friends, one of whom is Democrat Dave Strainer.

Some Republicans erupted at the photo, and one posted it on a Facebook page called Pissed Off Republicans, which promises to skewer Stec.

Start campaigning for Republicans in Queensbury this year or we will ratchet up the attention on what a schmuck you are, the anonymous poster wrote on the page.

Contacted by The Post-Star, the poster refused to reveal who he or she is, saying, We have to work in this town.

But on the page, the poster promised to post many more photos like the graduation picture, to show that Stec is a hypocrite, who is trying to suck up to Democrats and sabotage some Queensbury candidates.

Some of the people who followed the Facebook page said it was going too far to criticize Stec for simply standing next to a Democrat at a party.

But Town Board member Doug Irish said it was a fair criticism.

If youre that politically astute, you know what that looks like, he said. Why isnt the picture taken with Tony Metivier, his wife and his daughter, rather than the guy who just endorsed him for the Democrats?

Nonsense, said Town Board member Brian Clements, also a Republican. He said Stec was completely free to take photos with his friends, regardless of political affiliation.

Stec, interviewed later, noted he has been friends with Strainer for more than 15 years. They attended a party thrown by Republican Town Board member Tony Metivier, who is the third man in the photo, in honor of his daughters high school graduation. Metiviers wife posted the photo on her Facebook page, and from there, it was posted to Pissed Off Republicans.

Stec was disgusted by the Facebook page, which he said had a vulgar name and a handful of followers.

Some people apparently dont want civility between their elected officials when a graduation party photo stirs such hyperpartisan reactions, he said. This is exactly what is wrong with politics today and why people are fed up with politics.

As an assemblyman, he must work with Democrats. And, he said, hes also aware there are plenty of Democrats in his district.

I represent everyone, not just Republicans. I have many Republican and non-Republican friends. People want us to work together, he said.

The photo may have generated attention because of an internal feud among local Republicans.

Metivier is a Republican, but hes not on the Republican ticket this year. The party did not endorse him for re-election, so Metivier is running in a primary to regain the party line for the general election. He has also been endorsed by the Democrats, which deeply displeased some Republicans.

Irish thinks Stec deliberately posed for the photo to make a statement.

I would hope he would support our candidates, he said.

Rachel Seeber, who is running for supervisor on the Republican line, noted that Stec hasnt come to any events with her or donated to her campaign.

She added that shes not sure the photo indicates Stec wont support her. But shes sure the photo means hes not supporting the entire Republican slate, or perhaps supporting Metivier rather than the endorsed Republican in the Ward 1 primary.

Based on that picture, is it about Ward 1? Is it just about me? I doubt it, she said.

When asked about Irish and Seebers comments, Stec said, Interesting speculation.

He noted he had carried nominating petitions for the entire Republican slate of town candidates, but he declined to say who he is supporting.

Since Ive been in the Assembly I havent made very many campaign endorsements for local offices. At this point, I dont plan on that changing, he said.

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Assemblyman Stec criticized for photo with Democrat - Glens Falls Post-Star

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House to vote again Thursday on tax hike; Meier berated on social media Belleville News-Democrat Commenters on his Facebook post called him everything from a traitor to a liar, and suggested he switch to being a Democrat. One commenter wrote: This is just another 'kick the can' exercise. I ain't buying the statement that this was such a difficult ... Democrat-Controlled States Face Debt CrisisPatriot Post Two key suburban House Republicans still favor tax hikeChicago Daily Herald all 693 news articles »

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House to vote again Thursday on tax hike; Meier berated on social media - Belleville News-Democrat