{"id":4167,"date":"2019-05-22T09:36:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-22T13:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/democrats-grill-trump-interior-chief-for-saying-he-hasnt-lost-sleep-over-climate-change\/"},"modified":"2023-07-24T11:07:44","modified_gmt":"2023-07-24T15:07:44","slug":"democrats-grill-trump-interior-chief-for-saying-he-hasnt-lost-sleep-over-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/democrats-grill-trump-interior-chief-for-saying-he-hasnt-lost-sleep-over-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Los dem\u00f3cratas interrogan al jefe del Interior de Trump por decir que no ha "perdido el sue\u00f1o" por el cambio clim\u00e1tico"},"content":{"rendered":"

Democrats grilled presidente trump<\/a>‘s new Interior secretary on Wednesday over his recent comments that he hasn’t “lost any sleep”<\/a> over aspects of climate change.<\/p>\n

Interior Secretary David Bernhardt appeared before a subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, but faced more questions about his response to climate change and a slew of ethical concerns than about his budget.<\/p>\n

Senador jeff merkley<\/a> (D-Ore.) centered his questions entirely on Bernhardt’s “sleep” comment, flanked by a staffer holding photos of climate-related disasters in Puerto Rico, California and Texas, listing off the number of people who died in the disasters and how much damage they caused.<\/p>\n

“Do you lose sleep over it?” Merkley asked after each example.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s an issue that need to be addressed, but I don’t lose sleep over it,” Bernhardt responded. <\/p>\n

“The policies you’re promoting are doing enormous damage to our planet,” Merkley said, calling the agency’s policies “an immoral thing to do to the generations to come.”<\/p>\n

Merkley told the secretary he should “maybe lose some sleep and maybe decide to be part of the solution” on climate change.<\/p>\n

Bernhardt later said: “We completely respect that the climate is changing, and we need to study and address it,” and listed divisions of the department he said are making such efforts.<\/p>\n

Some of Bernhardt’s comments echoed his past assertion<\/a> that the legislative branch needs to take a greater role in directing the department to respond to climate change. <\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, subcommittee Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski<\/a> (R-Alaska) agreed, saying it shouldn’t fall to one secretary to make such determinations, and criticized her colleagues for “rhetorical” questioning of the secretary.<\/p>\n

“I think the secretary, in response to rhetorical questions, is just kind of pointing out the obvious that the authority rests with Congress,” she said.<\/p>\n

But Democrats have criticized Bernhardt for not viewing climate change as part of his job, with Sen. tom udall<\/a> (D-N.M.) arguing that Bernhardt is ignoring the intent of legislation.<\/p>\n

“Blaming Congress is a dodge,” Udall said.<\/p>\n

He also raised conflict of interest concerns<\/a> related to Bernhardt’s past as a lobbyist.<\/p>\n

“We could spend this entire hearing probing your various conflicts of interest,” Udall said. “It’s clear you’re making decisions that benefit former clients instead of the American people.”<\/p>\n

Senators on both sides of the aisle also pressed Bernhardt to limit offshore drilling and clarify the department’s position on the issue after pausing the development of its five-year offshore drilling plan.<\/p>\n

In responding to a question from Sen. chris van hollen<\/a> (D-Md.) Bernhardt said litigation was the driver behind halting the plan’s development.<\/p>\n

“I’ve paused it until I figure out a pathway,” Bernhardt said, nodding to an Alaska case<\/a> that would bar drilling in the Arctic. <\/p>\n

“I’m glad you’ve paused it and hope you permanently pause it,” Van Hollen replied.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration’s $30 billion budget request for the Interior Department would be a cut from last year’s budget, though Bernhardt noted it is larger than what the department requested last year.<\/p>\n

Republicans praised aspects of the budget that would help deal with the maintenance backlog in national parks and funds included to protect the Everglades.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Democrats grilled President Trump‘s new Interior secretary on Wednesday over his recent comments that he hasn’t “lost any sleep” over aspects of climate change. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt appeared before a subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, but faced more questions about his response to climate change and a slew of ethical concerns than about his budget. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) centered […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-in-the-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDemocrats grill Trump Interior chief for saying he hasn't 'lost sleep' over climate change - Merkley<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/democrats-grill-trump-interior-chief-for-saying-he-hasnt-lost-sleep-over-climate-change\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_MX\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Democrats grill Trump Interior chief for saying he hasn't 'lost sleep' over climate change - Merkley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Democrats grilled President Trump‘s new Interior secretary on Wednesday over his recent comments that he hasn’t “lost any sleep” over aspects of climate change. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt appeared before a subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, but faced more questions about his response to climate change and a slew of ethical concerns than about his budget. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) centered […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/democrats-grill-trump-interior-chief-for-saying-he-hasnt-lost-sleep-over-climate-change\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Merkley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-05-22T13:36:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-07-24T15:07:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/democrats-grill-trump-interior-chief-for-saying-he-hasnt-lost-sleep-over-climate-change\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/democrats-grill-trump-interior-chief-for-saying-he-hasnt-lost-sleep-over-climate-change\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Democrats grill Trump Interior chief for saying he hasn’t ‘lost sleep’ over climate change\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-05-22T13:36:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-24T15:07:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/democrats-grill-trump-interior-chief-for-saying-he-hasnt-lost-sleep-over-climate-change\/\"},\"wordCount\":618,\"articleSection\":[\"In the News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"es-MX\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/democrats-grill-trump-interior-chief-for-saying-he-hasnt-lost-sleep-over-climate-change\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/democrats-grill-trump-interior-chief-for-saying-he-hasnt-lost-sleep-over-climate-change\/\",\"name\":\"Democrats grill Trump Interior chief for saying he hasn't 'lost sleep' over climate change - Merkley\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-05-22T13:36:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-24T15:07:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/democrats-grill-trump-interior-chief-for-saying-he-hasnt-lost-sleep-over-climate-change\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"es-MX\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/democrats-grill-trump-interior-chief-for-saying-he-hasnt-lost-sleep-over-climate-change\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/democrats-grill-trump-interior-chief-for-saying-he-hasnt-lost-sleep-over-climate-change\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Democrats grill Trump Interior chief for saying he hasn’t ‘lost sleep’ over climate change\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/\",\"name\":\"Merkley\",\"description\":\"Merkley\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"es-MX\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/author\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Democrats grill Trump Interior chief for saying he hasn't 'lost sleep' over climate change - Merkley","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/democrats-grill-trump-interior-chief-for-saying-he-hasnt-lost-sleep-over-climate-change\/","og_locale":"es_MX","og_type":"article","og_title":"Democrats grill Trump Interior chief for saying he hasn't 'lost sleep' over climate change - Merkley","og_description":"Democrats grilled President Trump‘s new Interior secretary on Wednesday over his recent comments that he hasn’t “lost any sleep” over aspects of climate change. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt appeared before a subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, but faced more questions about his response to climate change and a slew of ethical concerns than about his budget. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) centered […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/democrats-grill-trump-interior-chief-for-saying-he-hasnt-lost-sleep-over-climate-change\/","og_site_name":"Merkley","article_published_time":"2019-05-22T13:36:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-07-24T15:07:44+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/democrats-grill-trump-interior-chief-for-saying-he-hasnt-lost-sleep-over-climate-change\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/democrats-grill-trump-interior-chief-for-saying-he-hasnt-lost-sleep-over-climate-change\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Democrats grill Trump Interior chief for saying he hasn’t ‘lost sleep’ over climate change","datePublished":"2019-05-22T13:36:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-24T15:07:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/democrats-grill-trump-interior-chief-for-saying-he-hasnt-lost-sleep-over-climate-change\/"},"wordCount":618,"articleSection":["In the News"],"inLanguage":"es-MX"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/democrats-grill-trump-interior-chief-for-saying-he-hasnt-lost-sleep-over-climate-change\/","url":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/democrats-grill-trump-interior-chief-for-saying-he-hasnt-lost-sleep-over-climate-change\/","name":"Democrats grill Trump Interior chief for saying he hasn't 'lost sleep' over climate change - Merkley","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-05-22T13:36:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-24T15:07:44+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/democrats-grill-trump-interior-chief-for-saying-he-hasnt-lost-sleep-over-climate-change\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"es-MX","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/democrats-grill-trump-interior-chief-for-saying-he-hasnt-lost-sleep-over-climate-change\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/democrats-grill-trump-interior-chief-for-saying-he-hasnt-lost-sleep-over-climate-change\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Democrats grill Trump Interior chief for saying he hasn’t ‘lost sleep’ over climate change"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/","name":"merkley","description":"merkley","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"es-MX"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/author\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4167"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13543,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4167\/revisions\/13543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}