6 winners and 3 losers from CNN's climate town hall

[BlueMTexpat]

22. Biden certainly has the

longest record. He was in the Senate from January 5, 1973 – January 15, 2009. Certainly none of the other candidates can compare with that.

And it is true that he was one of the first to propose legislation, along with Al Gore, Chafee and others.

...
The Delaware senator’s first climate change bill, introduced in 1986, died in the Senate. But the following year a version of Biden’s legislation survived as an amendment to a State Department funding bill. President Ronald Reagan went on to sign it into law.

The upshot of Biden’s Global Climate Protection Act was to call on the president to set up a task force to plan how to mitigate global warming.

Biden spoke about the bill on the Senate floor in January 1987 in terms that seem uncannily familiar to present-day warnings. He discussed, among other ills, the threat to human habitat resulting from melting polar ice caps and rising sea levels.
...
At the same time, it’s important not to overstate the impact of Biden’s bill, said Josh Howe, a professor of history and environmental studies at Reed College.

"It's significant insofar as Biden has been more or less on top of the issue since the mid '80s. But let's not stretch the intent of the bill and suggest that this was a comprehensive plan for reducing emissions or adapting to the consequences of climatic change," he said. "It was a plan to make a plan. Which, of course, neither Reagan nor Bush ultimately did."
...

https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2019/may/08/joe-biden/was-joe-biden-climate-change-pioneer-congress-hist/

Here is Biden's environmental scorecard while he was in the Senate, per the League of Conservation Voters. With a lifetime score of 83%, his grade is about a B-. https://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/joe-biden

Per the same organization, Elizabeth Warren has a lifetime score of 99%. https://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/elizabeth-warren

As does Cory Booker. https://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/cory-anthony-booker

Amy Klobuchar has a lifetime score of 96%. https://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/amy-klobuchar

Kamala Harris, who only assumed office in 2017, has a lifetime score of 100%. https://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/kamala-harris

Bernie Sanders has a lifetime score of 92%. https://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/bernie-sanders

Beto O'Rourke has a lifetime score of 95% based on his record in the House. https://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/beto-orourke

The other candidates don't have Congressional voting records, so far as I know.

Biden may have been an early pioneer, and good for him. But IMO, we can do much better.

Eta the link to the excerpt. Sorry about that!

Another eta to include Tulsi Gabbard's lifetime scorecard in Congress. As she was not among the ten in the climate debate, I hadn't included her before. But even she rates 96%. https://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/tulsi-gabbard