Drazan Flubs Discussion of Climate Change in Willamette Week Interview, Reveals Opposition to Inflation Reduction Act
[Portland, OR] – At an endorsement interview with the Willamette Week last week, Republican Christine Drazan bragged that she sponsored legislation to support a “very specific” federal response to the climate crisis.
The hard-hitting legislation? A memorial resolution (aka a formal letter) to Congress.
In the face of the existential threat that is climate change, Drazan’s letter to Congress is insulting political gamesmanship. The reality is that Drazan has received millions of dollars in campaign contributions from corporate polluters and spent years siding with them . In 2020, she proved that she was on the forefront of a “growing anti-democratic sentiment in the national GOP” when she led the House Republicans in walking off the job to block efforts on climate change.
If elected, Drazan is openly promising to “tear up” existing carbon reduction measures “on day one” and says she will suspend effective pollution-reduction measures like the clean fuels program.
In the Willamette Week interview, Drazan also revealed her opposition to the federal Inflation Reduction Act, which will lower energy costs for hundreds of thousands of Oregonians, invest an estimated $1.2 billion in large-scale clean power generation and storage between now and 2030, reduce air pollution, and more.
The Inflation Reduction Act, which Drazan opposes, is also lowering health care premiums for 13 million families, lowering seniors’ prescription drug prices, and capping their out-of-pocket expenses for prescription drugs at $2,000 per year.
Oregon League of Conservation Voters Executive Director Doug Moore laid out the stakes for voters in a press briefing last week:
“There are two anti-environment candidates on the ballot this year: Christine Drazan and Betsy Johnson. Only Christine Drazan has a chance to win, so I want everyone to finally start paying attention to her promises to move Oregon backwards on combating climate change…
Let me be really blunt: if Christine Drazan wins in November, Oregon will not just undo the current policies that we have on the books to prevent climate change from getting worse, she could take Oregon backwards even more, giving corporate polluters a direct line to Mahonia Hall.”