On the recordJune 10, 2010
Mr. President, I too support strongly the Murkowski amendment. There has been a lot of misinformation spread about this. Let me clear up a couple of things. First, this resolution is not about the science of climate change. It has nothing to do whatsoever with greenhouse gases or the Earth's temperature. It would not prevent the Senate from considering climate legislation if that is what the Senate chooses to do. Nor does this resolution have anything to do with the spill in the gulf coast, although some have tried to make it appear that way. Let's remember this resolution was introduced months before that spill even began. It has nothing to do with the disaster. We should not exploit this serious crisis for political gain, as the White House has tried to do. So what is the resolution about? Well, it boils down to a simple question: Should the Environmental Protection Agency be allowed to act unilaterally to set climate and energy policy through new Clean Air Act regulations without the delegation or approval of Congress. And the answer is no. It is wrong for the administration to try to achieve its goals by any means possible, in this case by going around the legislative branch and by using the EPA to enact sweeping economic and energy regulation. In order to stop that, we need to approve this resolution. Let me provide a bit of context for how we got to this point.…





