Chuck Hagel: “the pending resolution, Senate Resolution 98, with its 65 cosponsors, is intended to change the course of negotiations…”

“the pending resolution, Senate Resolution 98, with its 65 cosponsors, is intended to change the course of negotiations on the new global climate treaty now under discussion. The need for this treaty is questionable, but the harm that it would cause is certain. Two articles in this Monday's Wall Street Journal, written by Jack Kemp and Dr. Fred Singer, are excellent summaries against the direction the administration is taking in negotiating this treaty. In December, representatives of 150 nations will gather in Kyoto, Japan, to sign a successor treaty to the United Nations' Framework Convention on Climate Change. Today, in anticipation of this momentous event, the Senate is scheduled to debate the Byrd-Hagel resolution, a non-binding measure sponsored by 65 senators that will put that body on record against any treaty that would cause serious economic harm to the U.S. For more than a year the Clinton administration has been promising to provide its economic model of the treaty's effects, but last week it announced that it will not provide any formal estimate--a signal that the treaty won't meet the Byrd-Hagel criteria.”