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Thompson is hopeful climate bills will receive bipartisan support

House Ag Ranking Member Glenn GT Thompson is hopeful there will be bipartisan support for recently introduced climate bills.

“I’m hoping in short order that we will see bipartisan co-sponsors and that we’ll build co-sponsorship from both parties,” he says.

Republicans with the House Ag and Natural Resources committees rolled out a package intended to be an alternative to the Growing Climate Solutions Act on Friday.  

Thompson, a republican from Pennsylvania, told reporters he plans to work closely with House Ag Chairman David Scott, a democrat from South Carolina.

“Hopefully we can have hearings on these different bills to be able to hear from farms and ranches and continue to take ideas,” he says. “I think this is a starting point, a discussion, but we really do want to get the input of the agriculture industry as we move forward with these.”

The five pieces of legislation introduced Friday include the Sponsoring USDA Sustainability Targets in Agriculture to Incentivize Natural Solutions Act, or the SUSTAINS Act; Restoring Environments, Soils, Trees, and Operations to develop the Rural Economy Act, or the RESTORE Act; Naturally Offsetting Emissions by Managing and Implementing Tillage Strategies Act, or the NO EMITS Act; Forestry Improvements to Restore the Environment Act, or the FIRE Act; and Producing Responsible Energy and Conservation Incentives and Solutions for the Environment Act, or the PRECISE Act.