Lawmakers Form First Extreme Heat Caucus, Citing ‘Deadly Risk'
CLIMATEWIRE | An Arizona Democrat and a New York Republican are teaming up to form the Congressional Extreme Heat Caucus in an attempt to find bipartisan solutions for deadly temperatures.
'We hope this caucus can make sure the United States is better prepared for the inevitable increase in temperatures, not just in Arizona and the Southwest but all across the country,' Arizona Rep. Greg Stanton (D) said in an interview.
He's creating the caucus with New York Rep. Mike Lawler, a moderate Republican who bucked his party last year by expressing support for the nation's first proposed regulation to protect workers from heat by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
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'Extreme heat kills more Americans each year than any other weather event — over 1,300 lives lost, including 570 in New York alone — and it's a growing threat to the Hudson Valley,' Lawler said in a statement. 'That's why I'm co-chairing the Heat Caucus to drive real solutions, raise awareness, and protect our communities from this deadly risk.'
Stanton said he was excited to team up with Lawler, who understands that heat jeopardizes health even in northern climates.
'He is from New York and I'm proud he recognizes how heat is important for workers,' he said.
The caucus will be open to House lawmakers who have bipartisan ideas for addressing extreme heat. Noting that many Republicans have slammed OSHA's proposed heat rule, Stanton said the caucus doesn't have to find consensus on every policy, but members should be willing to search for common ground.
"It is important to have that conversation on what we can come together and agree on because that's how we get legislation passed in this town, even if we don't agree on how far to go," he said.
Lawler and Stanton teamed up earlier this spring to protest workforce reductions at the Department of Health and Human Services that could degrade heat-related programs.
In April, the pair wrote a letter to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., protesting layoffs that purged the entire staff of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice as well as the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps families pay for heating and cooling.
'As we head into another summer — with projections suggesting 2025 will rank again among the warmest years on record, we cannot afford to limit our ability to counter the impacts of extreme heat,' they wrote in April with nine other lawmakers.
Among the caucus' priorities is making LIHEAP funding more evenly distributed to southern states to help pay for cooling assistance. The program was initially created to help low-income families pay their heating bills during winter, and the majority of its funding still goes toward cold-weather states.
'We have had too many deaths of people in their homes because they are unable to access programs that would help them access air conditioning,' Stanton said.
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