Joseph Knollenberg: “as a member of the oversight delegation that attended the negotiations over the U.N. treaty on climate change, I am…”

“as a member of the oversight delegation that attended the negotiations over the U.N. treaty on climate change, I am absolutely outraged by U.N. official Raul Estrada's comments about congressional opposition to the overreaching Kyoto Accord. As I mentioned yesterday, Mr. Estrada and the rest of the world need to understand that, as representatives of the United States, our first obligation is to protect America's interests. The Kyoto treaty places the entire burden of reducing greenhouse gas emissions on developed nations and most particularly the United States, while giving developing nations like China, India, Mexico and Brazil a free pass. This would impose unrealistic burdens on the American people and significantly lower the standard of living of our country. Make no mistake about it, if this treaty goes through, we will lose jobs and our citizens will pay more for goods and services. Mr. Speaker, while the rest of the world may have an interest in seeing America's economy suffer, we do not. I urge my colleagues to remain firm in their opposition to the Kyoto treaty on climate change.”