Cravaack wants climate science teaching funds cut

by Brett Neely, Minnesota Public Radio

WASHINGTON — Some federal funding for education on global warming would be cut under an amendment sponsored by Minnesota U.S. Rep. Chip Cravaack.

The freshman congressman successfully attached the language to a science spending bill. It calls for cutting $10 million out of a National Science Foundation program to teach students about climate change.

Cravaack says a report by the Government Accountability Office said the program duplicated other science programs and he called the program a waste of money.

"You've got a school, and then you're giving a teacher an additional amount of money to teach science. Well, they're already teaching science," he said.

While Cravaack says his amendment isn't about whether or not global warming is a human-caused phenomenon, he counts himself among skeptics of that position.

Almost all scientists involved in climate research do believe that human activities are heating the planet.