A tense back-and-forth at a House Oversight Committee hearing on fossil fuels and climate change has gone viral on social media, and a Louisiana lawmaker is at the center of the firestorm.
Rep. Clay Higgins got into a shouting match with Energy Justice Law and Policy Center founder Raya Salter, during which he derisively called her “young lady” and “boo” while arguing about the impact a move away from fossil fuels could have on the manufacture of everyday products.
“Everything you have — your clothes, your glasses, the car you got here on, your phone, the table you’re sitting at, the chair, the carpet under your feet — everything you’ve got is petrochemical products. What would you do with that? Tell the world!” Higgins demanded of Salter.
Salter began to answer, saying “If I had that power, actually I don’t need that power, because what I would do is ask you, sir from Louisiana…” At that point, Higgins cut her off.
From there the two proceeded to attempt to speak over each other again and again for 2 ½ minutes.
Eventually, Salter asked that Higgins “search your heart and ask your God what you’re doing to the Black and poor people in Louisiana,” a segment of the population that she said are impacted the greatest by petrochemical plant pollutants.
At that, Higgins responded, “ My good lady, I’m trying to give you the floor, boo,” and asking, “Okay, so what would you do? You’ve got no answer do you, young lady? About what to do with petrochemical products? So I’ll move on.”
The district of Louisiana represented by Higgins produced liquefied natural gas, an energy source that is lauded as a transitional fuel as America looks to move away from oil and coal. Both the oil and gas industries are also heavy contributors to Higgins’s campaign coffers, according to political donation data at OpenSecrets, a campaign financing watchdog site.
After the exchange, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York thought it necessary to apologize to Salter for how Higgins spoke to her.
“I just want you to know that in the four years that I’ve sat on this committee, I have never seen members of Congress — Republican or Democrat — disrespect a witness in the way that I have seen them disrespect you today,” Ocasio-Cortez said to Salter. “I do not care what party they are in. I’ve never seen anything like that. For the gentleman of Louisiana and the comfort he felt in yelling at you like that, there’s more than one way to get a point across.”
“Frankly, men who treat women like that in public, I fear how they treat them in private,” Ocasio-Cortez added.
Higgins has since doubled-down on his demeanor during the exchange, sharing the clip himself on social media and commenting to a media outlet.
“When radicals show up in front of my Committee with an attitude talking anti-American trash, they can expect to get handled. I really don’t care if I hurt anybody’s feelings while I’m fighting to preserve our Republic,” he told The Hill in a statement.
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