This evening the Senate voted 74-14 to proceed with the debate on the climate change legislation, S. 3036. I voted against this motion to proceed not only because the bill itself would raise the price of energy in the United States and damage our economy, but also because of the manner in which this bill was brought to the floor. It denigrates the legislative process to substitute a bill less than a week before debate as Senator Boxer has done. I don't believe it is good government to debate a bill that was written in secret, never debated before a committee, and only brought out of hiding one week before it's moved to the floor on the Senate.
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Climate Change Issue Briefing
Energy Resources Issue Briefing
Wired Magazine's Inconvenient Truths
Floor Journal: S. 3036, America's Climate Security Act
During the debate of key legislation in the Senate, I maintain a journal here on my website to help keep you informed about important developments.
At a time when Idahoans are experiencing rising gas and electricity energy prices and rising food prices, we are debating climate change legislation, S. 3036, that would result in increases in energy costs across the board. Although I agree that we should take action to combat global climate change, it must be done in a responsible matter that will not damage our economy as we compete in a global market, where not everyone will play by the same set of rules.
Jun 02 Monday |
Vote on Motion to Proceed
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Jun 03 Tuesday |
Forestry Floor Speech
Tonight, after listening to the speeches during the day about how this Bill will result in high gas prices, I added my two cents about another negative aspect of this Bill: the way it diverts American taxpayer dollars to fund forestry projects in foreign countries while doing nothing to better manage our own forests. I spoke out about this on the floor, as well as about the oft-overlooked fact that forest fires are the largest emitters of CO2 outside of power generation. |
Jun 05 Thursday |
Petro Politics Floor Speech
After a diversion to highlight the Minority's unfair treatment of judicial nominees, today we returned to debating the climate change bill. I introduced my Domestic Forestry Management amendment with cosponsors Sens. Domenici, Barasso, Allard, and Crapo. I then spoke about the failure of Congress to stand up to increase the supply of domestically produced oil. Instead of drilling for the oil we know is under our own soil, Congress opts to play "Petrol Politics" which results in one billion dollars a day being shipped overseas to pay for foreign oil. As my chart shows, this money doesn’t go to private companies, because oil companies as we know them don’t exist in most oil-producing countries. Instead, since governments themselves own foreign oil companies, Congressional policies result in a billion dollars per day flowing right into the coffers of foreign governments, many of which are hostile to the United States and our way of life.
Introduced Amendments
In preparation for a more prolonged climate change debate, I prepared and introduced two other amendments, in addition to the Forest Management one I talked about on the Floor. One dealt with nuclear energy and the other was my "offramps" amendment. The nuclear energy amendment would have encouraged the production of new nuclear power plants and reaffirmed our support for a permanent waste repository at Yucca Mountain. Because nuclear plants are emission-free, they are a perfect way to lower emissions of CO2. The offramps amendment would have linked the implementation of the climate change bill to its effectiveness. If independent scientific analysis couldn't verify that the Bill would have significant, verifiable impact on our climate than it wouldn't go into effect. I sponsored this amendment because I believe if we are going to take actions that will have long term detrimental effects on our economy, we must make sure such actions do what they are supposed to do, which is lower the earth's temperature. |
Jun 06 Friday |
I was extremely disappointed this morning that Sen. Reid decided to use a procedural move to pull Sen. Boxer's climate bill from the floor rather than allowing deabte or amendments - he filed cloture on the motion to procede to voting on the bill - affectively running away from the issue and the impacts the Boxer bill would have had on consumer energy prices. Only 48 Senators stayed around to vote for ending debate, I was not one of them. This whole excerise makes me wonder who really cares about climate change vs. who only cares about the politics. One thing that has been highlighted over the past week is that if Idahoans want to find someone to blame for high gas prices and rising energy costs, they can point the finger at members of Congress who refuse to take advantage of the vast energy resources we have in our own country. Despite Congress' inaction on a national level, there are still a few things people can do on their own to reduce their energy bills. The Alliance to Save Energy, of which I am a Board member, has come up with a list to help consumers save money on their own. These items are things you can do right now to save energy and cut your gas and electric bills.
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