California Democratic Rep. Jared Huffman on Wednesday called out his district neighbor, Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa, over the latter’s minimization of climate change.
Following a back-and-forth between LaMalfa and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg during a House panel on transportation policy, Huffman opened his remarks with a subtle swipe.
“Mr. Secretary, it’s good to see you. You can see that I serve here in Congress with some of the greatest minds of the 19th century,” Huffman said.
Minutes earlier, LaMalfa dismissed Buttigieg for saying, “What I can tell you is that climate change is real, and we’ve got to do something about it.”
“Yeah, this one’s called autumn, sir,” LaMalfa said.
“I’m sorry?” Buttigieg responded.
“This one’s called autumn right now, so yeah.”
“I’m sorry, I couldn’t make out what you said.”
“This climate change right now is called autumn, yes,” responded LaMalfa, emphasizing the word “autumn.”
“Yeah that’s the seasons changing, which respectfully is not the same as the climate changing,” Buttigieg replied.
The exchange ended with Buttigieg making a case for quick action on climate change for the sake of his kids, and LaMalfa retorting that the “trillions and trillions we’re gonna cost our kids to chase a tiny percentage of CO2 will bankrupt all of us.”
Earlier in LaMalfa’s questions, the two had butted heads over whether electric cars are being forced on the consumer.
LaMalfa made the case that electric vehicles (EVs) are not well suited to his extensive, mostly rural northern California district, which borders Huffman’s.
Buttigieg defended investment in EVs on economic and environmental grounds, but LaMalfa steered the conversation back to his climate skepticism and emissions goals before their final exchange.