Washington, D.C. – In response to Senator Marco Rubio’s claims during second TV debate in the Florida Senate race, LCV Action Fund’s SVP of Government Affairs Tiernan Sittenfeld issued the following statement: 

“As Florida is already feeling the impacts of climate change, the choice in the Senate race couldn’t be clearer. Patrick Murphy understands we have an obligation to our economy, our environment and our livelihood to combat climate change head on while Marco Rubio denies the basic science and actively works to block the Clean Power Plan every step of the way. Rubio has voted time and time again to put polluter profits ahead of our communities, our environment and our precious landscapes like the Everglades. 

Locked in a tight re-election campaign, Senator Rubio is trying to portray himself as a champion for Florida’s environment, despite the fact that he has consistently blocked progress on climate change – the greatest threat to the state’s natural resources. And he has consistently sided with his Big Sugar and agriculture contributors instead of working to address the real challenges facing Florida’s clean water, including the Everglades.

In contrast, Patrick Murphy will continue to tackle climate change, invest in clean energy and safeguard Florida’s special places like the Everglades, the Indian River Lagoon and our coasts for generations to come. He is the champion that Florida’s families, economy and natural resources need in the U.S. Senate.”

FACT: Climate change and agricultural runoff are threats to the Everglades and Florida’s coasts, including causing and worsening toxic algal blooms. The National Park Service says the Everglades “are already feeling the impacts of a warming climate.”

FACT: Senator Rubio has questioned climate change science and consistently voted to block climate action as Florida’s U.S. Senator, including voting twice to block the Clean Power Plan, the single largest step our country has taken to limit the carbon pollution driving climate change.

FACT: Senator Rubio has received over $800,000 in contributions from the oil & gas sector over his career and over $720,000 in contributions from the agribusiness sector, including nearly $85,000 from the sugar industry – morethan any other U.S. Senator.

FACT: Patrick Murphy has been outspoken on the need to address climate change and protect Florida’s water and coasts, voting consistently in support of the Clean Power Plan and helping lead efforts to respond to toxic algal blooms.

FACT: Congressman Murphy has made Everglades restoration a top priority, and was a leader in the effort to authorize the Central Everglades Planning Project in this year’s water bill – from organizing a bipartisan Congressional briefing (to which Senator Rubio was a no-show), calling for the CEPP Chief’s Report to be finalized expeditiously, working to find ways work could begin on this project as soon as the report was final, and successfully lobbying for it to be included in the water bills that passed the House and Senate this year. 

LCV Action Fund endorsed Patrick Murphy for Senate in August. Congressman Murphy has earned an 80 percent lifetime score on LCV’s National Environmental Scorecard. In contrast, Senator Marco Rubio has earned an abysmal 6 percent lifetime score on LCV’s National Environmental Scorecard including a 0 percent score for 2015. Learn more about Senator Rubio’s extreme anti-environmental record here.

The National Environmental Scorecard is a non-partisan, nationally accepted yardstick, used to rate members of Congress on environmental and clean energy issues. Based on key environmental votes in the House and Senate, it is often used by the media to quickly describe a Member’s record. For more information, visit https://scorecard.lcv.org.  

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Paid for by the League of Conservation Voters Action Fund and authorized by Friends of Patrick Murphy.