Bob Goodlatte

The cap-and-tax legislation that the Congress passed a few weeks ago, I think ignores the need to increase domestic production of oil and natural gas and nuclear power and so on.

I am also very concerned about the direction that our government is taking in terms of increasing the input costs to dairy farmers.

I believe that needs to be overhauled.

I have struggled with that with my dairy farmers in Virginia, who ship their milk greater and greater and greater distances primarily because of the nature of this policy and the way it works.

We have an unfair allocation here that is going to cause electricity prices to go up for my constituents more than they will in other places.

I am making a plea today for common sense, and I very much appreciate your discussion of the unfairness with the allocations.

We are not just talking about what happens here in the United States, because it is one atmosphere, it is one globe.

Congress can certainly take action to prohibit the EPA from acting on that.

And look at what we are doing to rural America in limiting access to other forms of energy that farmers, ranchers, and businesses that operate in rural areas need, like coal--coal is treated so poorly in this process.

I hope you are right about that, Mr. Secretary, because I am very concerned that the countries that we compete with around the world, where we are already far superior in our environmental practices--you have talked about waste and so on.

You talk about the transition to a green economy. We are all in favor of that. You talk about the creation of green jobs. But isn't a fact that nowhere in your statement or in the Waxman bill is there any description of how we get there?

If you want to talk about reducing greenhouse gas emissions, nuclear power today, without any of the incentives that ought to be in a bill like this and aren't in a bill like this, already reduces greenhouse gas emissions by a factor of…

Cap-and-trade legislation has the potential to devastate the agriculture community with higher operating costs and destroy ways of life in rural America.

This bill will raise electric bills across the country by hindering the development of traditional energy sources while also, ironically, limiting the development of renewable energy.

The cap-and-trade proposal is really an $846 billion national energy tax that will hit nearly every American.

But wouldn't putting a cap on greenhouse gas emissions raise the cost of a wide variety of energy sources?

I think the answer is that it does violate the terms of that Act. I think an automaker by anyone's estimation is not a financial institution.

Quite frankly, I did not support the bailouts last year.

I hope that it has been timely, given the rush of events that we have here.

Our farmers see the government stepping in, spending $1.5 billion on this, however serious it may be.

To preserve [the] independence [of the people,] we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude.

To preserve the independence of the people, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt.

I'm very concerned about maintaining local radio programming.

The United States has been the pioneer for strong intellectual property protections.

I very much appreciate your holding this hearing, and I look forward to working with you and Ranking Member Smith on this very important legislation.