Frank Barry, Columnist

Republicans Evolve on Climate Change

This week's votes showed the Senate has a filibuster-proof majority that believes in man-made climate change. Now, what are they going to do with it?

January 23, 2015 at 9:23 PM UTC

By Frank Barry

Frank Barry is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and member of the editorial board covering national affairs. He is the author of the new book, "Back Roads and Better Angels: A Journey Into the Heart of American Democracy."

John Hoeven deserves a pat on the back.
Photographer: Gabriella Demczuk/Getty Images

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Some rare good news came out of the U.S. Senate this week on climate change: There are at least 60 senators who believe that climate change is real and caused by human activity. That’s enough to break a filibuster on a bill, if they could ever agree on what it should include.

For years, Republicans have skirted the issue. Less noted, but equally important, is that they're also evolving on it. Within the party, the fight has moved on from whether climate change is real to whether human activity is causing it, as the scientific evidence overwhelmingly indicates. Republicans have been reluctant to accept the evidence, because that would require doing something about it, which would lead to -- and this is crux of the issue -- new laws and regulations that interfere with the free market.