Political Quotes

“first of all, let me address what happened today because I think it is significant. I think a lot of people are a little bit confused over what did happen, and it was somewhat of a surprise. As the Presiding Officer knows, I have been leading the opposition to this whole idea of cap and trade. It originated way back in 2001. Since that time, we have voted on it many times. I will always remember that back in those days most people believed that manmade gases were contributing to global warming and that the world was going to come to an end because of manmade gases and CO<INF>2</INF> emissions. At that time, early on, I was on the Environment and Public Works Committee. I think at that time I was not chairman, but I was the chairman of one of the subcommittees, and I thought, it must be true, everybody says it. Well, some time went by and we got a report. The first one came from the Wharton School where they talked about the fact that if we were to pass cap and trade--at that time there were two bills before the U.S. Senate--not in the House, just in the Senate--and those bills would have been cap-and-trade types of bills. So they calculated what this would cost if we in the United States passed cap and trade. This was way back in 2002, 2003. They said that the range of the cost to the American people would be between $300 billion and $400 billion a year. I do something that I don't think very many people do, but I always do it.…”