| Year | Pres. | House | Senate | Democrats | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900 | R | R | R | |||
| 1904 | R | R | R | |||
| 1908 | R | R | R | |||
| 1912 | R | D | R | |||
| 1916 | D | D | D | |||
| 1920 | D | R | R | |||
| 1924 | R | R | R | |||
| 1928 | R | R | R | |||
| 1932 | R | R | R | |||
| 1936 | D | D | D | |||
| 1940 | D | D | D | |||
| 1944 | D | D | D | |||
| 1948 | D | R | R | |||
| 1952 | D | D | D | |||
| 1956 | R | D | D | |||
| 1960 | R | D | D | |||
| 1964 | D | D | D | |||
| 1968 | D | D | D | |||
| 1972 | R | D | D | |||
| 1976 | R | D | D | Working through and supporting such organizations as the United Nations Environmental Program, we will join other governments in more effective efforts to preserve the quality and resources of the oceans; to preserve endangered species of fish and wildlife; to reverse the encroachment of the deserts, the erosion of the world’s agricultural lands, and the accelerating destruction of its forests; to limit pollution of the atmosphere; and to control alterations of the global climate. | ||
| 1980 | D | D | D | New efforts at home and abroad will be required in the early 1980s to face squarely such global problems as the destruction of forests, the loss of countless irreplaceable species, growing world population, acid rain, and carbon dioxide buildup. | ||
| 1984 | R | D | R | |||
| 1988 | R | D | D | that regular world environmental summits should be convened by the United States to address the depletion of the ozone layer, the “greenhouse effect,” the destruction of tropical forests and other global threats and to create a global action plan for environmental restoration. | A similar ability to develop international agreements to solve complex global problems such as tropical forest destruction, ocean dumping, climate change, and earthquakes will be increasingly vital in the years ahead. All of these efforts will require strong and experienced leadership to lead the other nations of the world in a common effort to combat ecological dangers that threaten all peoples. | |
| 1992 | R | D | D | Democrats know we must act now to save the health of the earth, and the health of our children, for generations to come. . . The United States must become a leader, not an impediment, in the fight against global warming. We should join our European allies in agreeing to limit carbon dioxide emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2000. | Adverse changes in climate must be the common concern of mankind. At the same time, we applaud our President for personally confronting the international bureaucrats at the Rio Conference. He refused to accept their anti- American demands for income redistribution and won instead a global climate treaty that relies on real action plans rather than arbitrary targets hostile to U.S. growth and workers. | Senate approves UN Framework Convention on Climate Change |
| 1996 | D | R | R | We will seek a strong international agreement to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions worldwide and protect our global climate. | The United States should continue its commitment to addressing global climate change in a prudent and effective manner that does not punish the U.S. economy. Despite scientific uncertainty about the role of human activity in climate change, the Clinton Administration has leapfrogged over reasoned scientific inquiry and now favors misdirected measures, such as binding targets and timetables, imposed only on the United States and certain other developed countries, to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Republicans deplore the arbitrary and premature abandonment of the previous policy of voluntary reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. We further deplore ceding U.S. sovereignty on environmental issues to international bureaucrats and our foreign economic competitors. | Hoover Institute publishes optimistic view of climate change |
| 2000 | R | R | R | And we must dramatically reduce climate- disrupting and health-threatening pollution in this country, while making sure that all nations of the world participate in this effort. . . Eight of the ten hottest years ever recorded have occurred during the past ten years. Scientists predict a daunting range of likely effects from global warming. Much of Florida and Louisiana submerged underwater. More record floods, droughts, heat waves, and wildfires. Diseases and pests spreading to new areas. Crop failures and famines. Melting glaciers, stronger storms, and rising seas. These are not Biblical plagues. They are the predicted result of human actions. They can be prevented only with a new set of human actions – big choices and new thinking. | As environmental issues become increasingly international, progress will increasingly depend on strong and credible presidential leadership. Complex and contentious issues like global warming call for a far more realistic approach than that of the Kyoto Conference. Its deliberations were not based on the best science; its proposed agreements would be ineffective and unfair inasmuch as they do not apply to the developing world; and the current administration is still trying to implement it, without authority of law. More research is needed to understand both the cause and the impact of global warming. That is why the Kyoto treaty was repudiated in a lopsided, bipartisan Senate vote. A Republican president will work with businesses and with other nations to reduce harmful emissions through new technologies without compromising America’s sovereignty or competitiveness — and without forcing Americans to walk to work. . . Whatever the theories on global warming, a treaty that does not include China and exempts “developing” countries from necessary standards while penalizing American industry is not in the national interest. | |
| 2001 | R | R | D | Bush withdraws from Kyoto Protocol |
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| 2004 | R | R | R | And climate change is a major international challenge that requires global leadership from the United States, not abdication. We must restore American leadership on this issue as well as others such as hazardous waste emissions and depleted fisheries | Republicans are committed to meeting the challenge of long-term global climate change by relying on markets and new technologies to improve energy efficiency. These efforts will help reduce emissions over time while allowing the economy to grow. Our President and our Party strongly oppose the Kyoto Protocol and similar mandatory carbon emissions controls that harm economic growth and destroy American jobs. | |
| 2007 | R | D | D | EPA ordered to publish a rule requiring public reporting of greenhouse gases from large sources |
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| 2008 | R | D | D | We will lead to defeat the epochal, man-made threat to the planet: climate change. Without dramatic changes, rising sea levels will flood coastal regions around the world. Warmer temperatures and declining rainfall will reduce crop yields, increasing conflict, famine, disease, and poverty. . . We will reach out to the leaders of the biggest carbon emitting nations and ask them to join a new Global Energy Forum that will lay the foundation for the next generation of climate protocols. . . This challenge is massive, but rising to it will also bring new benefits to America. By 2050, global demand for low-carbon energy could create an annual market worth $500 billion. Meeting that demand would open new frontiers for American entrepreneurs and workers. . . Global climate change is the planet’s greatest threat, and our response will determine the very future of life on this earth. Despite the efforts of our current Administration to deny the science of climate change and the need to act, we still believe that America can be earth’s best hope. We will implement a market-based cap and trade system to reduce carbon emissions by the amount scientists say is necessary to avoid catastrophic change and we will set interim targets along the way to ensure that we meet our goal. | The same human economic activity that has brought freedom and opportunity to billions has also increased the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. While the scope and long-term consequences of this are the subject of ongoing scientific research, common sense dictates that the United States should take measured and reasonable steps today to reduce any impact on the environment. . . Any policies should be global in nature, based on sound science and technology, and should not harm the economy. . . As part of a global climate change strategy, Republicans support technology-driven, market-based solutions that will decrease emissions, reduce excess greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, increase energy efficiency, mitigate the impact of climate change where it occurs, and maximize any ancillary benefits climate change might offer for the economy. . . Because the issue of climate change is global, it must become a truly global concern as well. All developed and developing economies, particularly India and China, can make significant contributions in dealing with the matter. It would be unrealistic and counterproductive to expect the U.S. to carry burdens which are more appropriately shared by all. . . Republicans caution against the doomsday climate change scenarios peddled by the aficionados of centralized command-and-control government. We can — and should — address the risk of climate change based on sound science without succumbing to the no-growth radicalism that treats climate questions as dogma rather than as situations to be managed responsibly. . . A robust economy will be essential to dealing with the risk of climate change, and we will insist on reasonable policies that do not force Americans to sacrifice their way of life or trim their hopes and dreams for their children. | |
| 2009 | D | D | D | Obama releases mileage and emission requirements for cars | ||
| 2012 | D | R | D | We know that global climate change is one of the biggest threats of this generation – an economic, environmental, and national security catastrophe in the making. We affirm the science of climate change, commit to significantly reducing the pollution that causes climate change, and know we have to meet this challenge by driving smart policies that lead to greater growth in clean energy generation and result in a range of economic and social benefits. . . Democrats pledge to continue showing international leadership on climate change, working toward an agreement to set emission limits in unison with other emerging powers. Democrats will continue pursuing efforts to combat climate change at home as well, because reducing our emissions domestically – through regulation and market solutions – is necessary to continue being an international leader on this issue. . . The change wrought by a warming planet will lead to new conflicts over refugees and resources; new suffering from drought and famine; catastrophic natural disasters; and the degradation of vital ecosystems across the globe. | Finally, the strategy subordinates our national security interests to environmental, energy, and international health issues, and elevates “climate change” to the level of a “severe threat” equivalent to foreign aggression. | |
| 2016 | D | R | R | Climate change is an urgent threat and a defining challenge of our time. . . Democrats share a deep commitment to tackling the climate challenge; creating millions of good-paying middle class jobs; reducing greenhouse gas emissions more than 80 percent below 2005 levels by 2050; and meeting the pledge President Obama put forward in the landmark Paris Agreement, which aims to keep global temperature increases to “well below” two degrees Celsius and to pursue efforts to limit global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius. . . We believe the United States must lead in forging a robust global solution to the climate crisis. We are committed to a national mobilization, and to leading a global effort to mobilize nations to address this threat on a scale not seen since World War II. | Information concerning a changing climate, especially projections into the long-range future, must be based on dispassionate analysis of hard data. We will enforce that standard throughout the executive branch, among civil servants and presidential appointees alike. The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a political mechanism, not an unbiased scientific institution. Its unreliability is reflected in its intolerance toward scientists and others who dissent from its orthodoxy. We will evaluate its recommendations accordingly. We reject the agendas of both the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, which represent only the personal commitments of their signatories; no such agreement can be binding upon the United States until it is submitted to and ratified by the Senate. | |
| 2017 | R | R | R | Trump removes climate change as a national security threat |
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| 2019 | R | D | R | Protests to support fighting climate change led by Greta Thunberg |
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| 2020 | R | D | R | Climate change is a global emergency. We have no time to waste in taking action to protect Americans’ lives and futures. . . As Democrats, we believe the scientists: the window for unprecedented and necessary action is closing, and closing fast. Democrats reject the false choice between growing our economy and combating climate change; we can and must do both at the same time. . . We will rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement and, on day one, seek higher ambition from nations around the world, putting the United States back in the position of global leadership where we belong. . . We agree with scientists and public health experts that the United States—and the world—must achieve net- zero greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible, and no later than 2050. . . To reach net- zero emissions as rapidly as possible, Democrats commit to eliminating carbon pollution from power plants by 2035 through technology- neutral standards for clean energy and energy efficiency. . . We will require public companies to disclose climate risks and greenhouse gas emissions in their operations and supply chains. | ||
| 2024 | D | R | D | The climate crisis is decades in the making, an existential threat to future generations who deserve better. It’s a consequence of delay and destruction by people like Donald Trump and his friends in Big Oil, who still deny what we all see happening right before our eyes. |