Democrats holding back Inslee’s extreme “green” agenda (underreported story #6)

Jay Inslee loves to blame Republicans—and other so-called “climate deniers”—for his failure to implement any part of his extreme “green” agenda. It is Inslee’s false blame-game that makes up the 6^th most underreported story of the year.

During the 2015 legislative session, Jay Inslee failed to pass a single bill from his extreme green agenda. He received national attention for his hyper-partisan attacks blaming Republicans for his failure. The Associated Press reported:

“[Inslee] has failed in his own state to pass bold proposals, including the centerpiece cap-and-trade plan to charge emissions from oil refineries, power plants and fuel suppliers.

“The Democratic governor also conceded to Republican demands on another climate initiative and is expected to sign a transportation revenue package Wednesday, which includes a provision that would transfer money for transit elsewhere if a state agency enacts a low carbon fuel standard.

“Inslee blamed the Senate Republican majority for the failures, saying the party ‘is now in the stranglehold of the oil and gas industry.’”

It was Democrats who blocked Inslee’s extreme “green” agenda
Inslee isn’t quite willing to accept that it was his own party, not Republicans, who blocked his cap-and-tax scheme in the state Legislature. He could not even garner enough support among members of his own party to pass the scheme out of the Democrat-controlled state House.

The reality is that Republicans are far from the only obstacles to Inslee’s cap-and-tax scheme. As Shift reported, Inslee’s cap-and-tax scheme was the poster child of a “dead on arrival” policy. Inslee’s cap-and-tax bill only garnered 37 co-sponsors (all Democrats) in the 98-member, Democrat-controlled state House. It was a testament to the lack of support his policy has even among members of his own party. There were not enough Democrat co-sponsors in the House to pass Inslee’s proposal out of the Transportation Committee itself (only 11 supporters of 25 members), let alone pass it on the floor.

Inslee unwilling to defend own policy
Even more, Inslee knew his cap-and-tax scheme did not have the support of many members of his party. That’s why Inslee did not show up to testify before the House Environment Committee’s hearing on his cap-and-tax scheme. Our green governor spent his term thus far championing an extreme “green” agenda—including a cap-and-tax scheme—yet did not defend his signature budget proposal before lawmakers. Inslee would not obligate himself to defend what he called a “moral obligation” when, arguably, it counted most.

Moreover, GOP Sen. Doug Ericksen, chair of the Senate Energy, Environment and Telecommunications Committee, promised to give Inslee’s cap-and-tax bill a hearing if it reached the Senate. The problem for Inslee was that the Democrat-controlled state House did not even bother to bring the cap-and-tax scheme to a vote, not that Republicans halted progress.

Inslee boldly claims he is “leading a movement in Washington, and across the country.” Yet, as previously stated, he failed to even lead his fellow Democrats in the Legislature during the 2015 session. Simply put, Inslee is not a leader. He is a failure.