Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) was appointed chair of the Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard last week, a subsidiary to the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee that will be headed by Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.).
Rubio is among many Republicans who have deferred to claiming “I’m not a scientist” to dodge questions about their position on climate change. Rubio may even be responsible for coining the phrase, telling GQ in 2012 that he’s unable to determine the actual age of the earth because, “I’m not a scientist, man.”
“I can tell you what recorded history says, I can tell you what the Bible says, but I think that’s a dispute amongst theologians and I think it has nothing to do with the gross domestic product or economic growth of the United States.”
Scientists have long agree that earth’s age is approximately 4.54 billion years.
The senator has also denied that humans play a role in climate change, saying legislation meant to quell the problem would do nothing but waste taxpayer dollars.
“I do not believe that human activity is causing these dramatic changes to our climate the way these scientists are portraying it, and I do not believe that the laws that they propose we pass will do anything about it, except it will destroy our economy,” Rubio said.
Rubio once made a favorable move for the environment, supporting a cap and trade law when he was serving as leader of the Florida House in 2008. Of course, he has since attempted to distance himself from the vote, and ultimately celebrated its failure.
Rubio is in good company on the committee. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) will be heading up the Subcommittee on Space, Science and Competitiveness. He too has said there isn’t enough evidence to support climate change, and his hours-long speech that led to a government shutdown led to lasting damage at NIH, EPA and NASA programs.