Everyone had a great time. Photo courtesy of JacquelynMartin ( AP ).Geoff Bennett, NBC White House correspondent, tweeted last week the observation that he couldn't recall the last time he had seen Republican and Democratic senators laughing in public. It happened after the Gang of 10 bipartisan senators showed up at the White House for President Joe Biden to pitch their infrastructure bill.AdvertisementBennett's observation on the comity displayed was made less than a week after the Pacific Northwest experienced a heat wave that melted literally. These two things are intrinsically linked. Bipartisanship is a strange fetish in the political media. It seems as though the answer to all our problems lies in the middle of the political spectrum. Exxon lobbyists confessing in secret recordings to talking to Senator Joe Manchins every week about the heat wave this week, and the hollowness of bipartisanship for addressing climate change show that it is not. This hollowness, along with the inability to take meaningful policy actions, makes it a form of climate denial that is even more dangerous than flat-out denigrating science.One of the problems in American politics is how we talk about it. The misconception that there is one centralist sweet spot for all issues is that if a group of senators of both parties get together and have a good time, everything is fine in the rest of the world. It is easy to see the problems in the world.We've witnessed infrastructure melting, blackouts in the U.S. largest city, and a whole town in Canada go up in flames within a week of setting the country's all-time heat record. This was just one day after the fifth Atlantic hurricane season storm. This isn't a bad week. This is 2021. It's another year in which carbon dioxide reached an all-time high and the climate became less welcoming.A complete overhaul of society's life support systems is necessary to reduce carbon emissions and prepare for climate change. Numerous researches and major reports have shown that our homes must be electrified. New oil and gas extraction should stop next year. Sea walls and natural barriers must be built to keep the ocean from rising. Public transit needs to become more accessible to all. These multi-trillion dollar projects will need rapid deployment. Alternatives include more of the same as in recent years, and less life for all people on Earth, especially those who are poor.We have seen backslapping bipartisanship that does not promise transformational change. Biden's $2 trillion opening offer for infrastructure funding was already inadequate. This bipartisan version is just a shell of the already insufficient policy push. Biden's plan included $174 million for electric cars. $15 billion is included in the bipartisan plan. The American Jobs Plan included $85 billion for public transit. Special offers by Joe Manchin and Bill Cassidy total $48.5 billion Only highways and airports are the only areas in which they are almost on par. Both of these are responsible for decades of carbon pollution.The notion that the ideal policy position for addressing climate change is somewhere in the middle of left and right is like saying that the best place between a cliff edge and thin air 10ft away is 5ft beyond the brink. You will still die if you choose the middle ground.AdvertisementThe bipartisan proposal allocates money for coastal defenses. Biden took to Twitter to promote the $52 billion in funding for strengthening our natural infrastructure, such as coastlines, levees, and physical infrastructure. However, a 2019 report found that $400 billion might not be sufficient to prevent major damage. Get Sens. It's not going to save Miami if Kyrsten Sinema or Mitt Romney have a chuckle.Another irony is that nobody outside Washington, DC cares about whether legislation on infrastructure and climate change is bipartisan. Majorities of voters want large investments in infrastructure and clean electricity, and will accept if the bill passes through a party-line reconciliation vote.AdvertisementThe scene at the White House driveway is a great example of how bipartisanship works. A group of legislators were able to stand alongside the president while the press followed their every word and smile. While I have no doubt that some people involved in the negotiations saw it as a positive outcome for the country's interests, the final result was ultimately about the negotiators' power. The ability to get good press, a pat from the president and negotiate concessions with the senators. It also throws a bone at the corporate donors who keep these politicians in power.Secret recordings of Exxon lobbyists were released this week by Channel 4 in the UK. They explicitly identify Gang of 10 members as the lynchpins for Biden's infrastructure plan.AdvertisementJoe Manchin is someone I speak to every week. He is the kingmaker because he is a Democrat from West Virginia, which is [a] very conservative State, so he is. Keith McCoy was Exxons senior director for federal relations and stated on the recording.McCoy also rattled off names of senators. John Tester and Kyrsten Sinema were all part of the bipartisan negotiation. He also mentioned Sen. Shelley Moore Capito who was involved in the initial negotiations with the White House to reduce Biden's proposal. McCoy boasted that Exxon CEO Darren Woods was talking directly to Coons. He helpfully pointed out that Woods has a very close relationship and friendship with Biden.AdvertisementExxon has funded climate denial for decades and opposed regulations. McCoy called Biden's pledge to cut emissions by 52% by 2030 crazy. When combined with other world commitments, they only give us a 50-50 chance of preventing catastrophic levels of warming. It is crucial that we increase those chances. Exxon doesn't want that to happen, as the recordings show. The company also knows how to leverage bipartisanship so it doesn't.This is not to say Republicans cannot have great climate ideas to address climate change and fix infrastructure. Let's plant trees. Let's invest in R&D to capture carbon. That's great.AdvertisementIt is not true to pretend that this is all that matters or that there is some perfect middle ground between the Green New Deal and it. Climate policy doesn't involve imagining a range from left to right, and finding the sweet spot. Physics is in a zero-sum game that doesn't care who is laughing with whom.The bipartisan agreement is not the best way to go. It could stall the more aggressive actions that are needed to prevent more damage. Our world, which has experienced a temperature of 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (1degree Celsius), has already caused great suffering and pushed 20th-century infrastructure to its limits. Millions more will die if they don't acknowledge this reality when designing policies.
