U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speaks at the Council On Foreign Relations on March 23, 2015 in New York City. Graham spoke extensively on U.S. relations with Iran and the ongoing nuclear deal being brokered. (Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

Senator Lindsey Graham is among the few Republicans in Congress who are willing to admit that climate change is real and must be addressed. He is encouraging his fellow Republicans to have an open debate on the issue.

“When it comes to climate change being real, people in my party are all over the board,” Sen. Graham said. “I did the trifecta: I said that it’s real, that man is contributing to it in a substantial way — but the problem is Al Gore has turned this thing into a religion.”

“Climate change is not a religious problem for me, it is an economic problem, it is an environmental problem,” Graham said. “So I think the Republican Party has to do some soul searching. Before we can be bipartisan, we have to figure out where we are as a party. What is the environmental platform of the Republican Party? I don’t know either.”

“So I’d like to come up with one, I’d like to have a debate within the party. ‘Can you say that climate change is a scientifically sound phenomenon, but can you reject the idea you have to destroy the economy to solve the problem?’ is sort of where I’ll be taking this debate.” – As reported by Raw Story