As Mitch McConnell prepares to leave the Senate in January, the article portrays his decades-long career as a sustained effort to block or reverse federal climate action.

After becoming Senate Republican leader in 2007, McConnell opposed a bipartisan climate initiative; although the House passed a cap-and-trade bill, its Senate counterpart never received a vote amid his opposition.

McConnell acknowledged human-caused climate change in 2019 but opposed policies to address it, including carbon pricing and clean-energy tax credits, and voted against the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022.

Over his 40 years in the Senate, McConnell received more than $4 million in donations from oil, gas and coal interests, ranking fifth among senators for contributions from those industries.

McConnell blocked consideration of Merrick Garland’s 2016 Supreme Court nomination and helped secure confirmation of Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett; the article links the court’s conservative majority to rulings that weaken environmental regulation.

McConnell also supported the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which repealed many provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act.

After saying Donald Trump was morally responsible for provoking the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack, McConnell voted with 42 other Republican senators to acquit him; the article casts Trump’s return to office and subsequent climate-policy rollbacks as a final chapter in McConnell’s legacy.