Nearly a year and a half into his tenure as Senate Budget chair, Rhode Island Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse could be about to make good on his promise to revive a long-stalled House investigation into the oil industry’s alleged climate misinformation campaign.
A hearing scheduled for next week, featuring testimony from House Oversight and Accountability Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), has the potential to reveal new information about what Democrats uncovered as part of that probe, which was disbanded when Republicans took control of the chamber in 2022.
The party power shift in the House complicated Democrats’ plans for their scrutiny, including tranches of documents collected through subpoenas.
And while the Senate Budget Committee’s announcement of the hearing — titled “Denial, Disinformation, and Doublespeak: Big Oil’s Evolving Efforts to Avoid Accountability for Climate Change” — doesn’t mention that investigation specifically, Raskin’s participation makes it all but certain the issue will come up.
Read More: Will Senate panel revive oil probe?