Bill details

Vote on Motion to Proceed

This evening the Senate voted 74-14 to proceed with the debate on the climate change legislation, S. 3036. I voted against this motion to proceed not only because the bill itself would raise the price of energy in the United States and damage our economy, but also because of the manner in which this bill was brought to the floor. It denigrates the legislative process to substitute a bill less than a week before debate as Senator Boxer has done. I don't believe it is good government to debate a bill that was written in secret, never debated before a committee, and only brought out of hiding one week before it's moved to the floor on the Senate.

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Forestry Floor Speech

Tonight, after listening to the speeches during the day about how this Bill will result in high gas prices, I added my two cents about another negative aspect of this Bill: the way it diverts American taxpayer dollars to fund forestry projects in foreign countries while doing nothing to better manage our own forests. I spoke out about this on the floor, as well as about the oft-overlooked fact that forest fires are the largest emitters of CO2 outside of power generation.

Watch my speech Download my floor chart Download my Forest Management Amendment

Petro Politics Floor Speech

After a diversion to highlight the Minority's unfair treatment of judicial nominees, today we returned to debating the climate change bill. I introduced my Domestic Forestry Management amendment with cosponsors Sens. Domenici, Barasso, Allard, and Crapo. I then spoke about the failure of Congress to stand up to increase the supply of domestically produced oil. Instead of drilling for the oil we know is under our own soil, Congress opts to play "Petrol Politics" which results in one billion dollars a day being shipped overseas to pay for foreign oil. As my chart shows, this money doesn’t go to private companies, because oil companies as we know them don’t exist in most oil-producing countries. Instead, since governments themselves own foreign oil companies, Congressional policies result in a billion dollars per day flowing right into the coffers of foreign governments, many of which are hostile to the United States and our way of life.

Download my "offramps" amendment Download my nuclear energy amendment

Introduced Amendments

In preparation for a more prolonged climate change debate, I prepared and introduced two other amendments, in addition to the Forest Management one I talked about on the Floor. One dealt with nuclear energy and the other was my "offramps" amendment.

The nuclear energy amendment would have encouraged the production of new nuclear power plants and reaffirmed our support for a permanent waste repository at Yucca Mountain. Because nuclear plants are emission-free, they are a perfect way to lower emissions of CO2.

The offramps amendment would have linked the implementation of the climate change bill to its effectiveness. If independent scientific analysis couldn't verify that the Bill would have significant, verifiable impact on our climate than it wouldn't go into effect. I sponsored this amendment because I believe if we are going to take actions that will have long term detrimental effects on our economy, we must make sure such actions do what they are supposed to do, which is lower the earth's temperature.

Who Should You Blame? Streaming Video, 2:36 Blame Your Congress, Streaming Video, 1:05 The China-India Economic Stimulus Act, Streaming Video, 2:27 The Second Largest Emitter of Carbon, Streaming Video, 2:30

Shame On Us

I was extremely disappointed this morning that Sen. Reid decided to use a procedural move to pull Sen. Boxer's climate bill from the floor rather than allowing deabte or amendments - he filed cloture on the motion to procede to voting on the bill - affectively running away from the issue and the impacts the Boxer bill would have had on consumer energy prices. Only 48 Senators stayed around to vote for ending debate, I was not one of them. This whole excerise makes me wonder who really cares about climate change vs. who only cares about the politics.

One thing that has been highlighted over the past week is that if Idahoans want to find someone to blame for high gas prices and rising energy costs, they can point the finger at members of Congress who refuse to take advantage of the vast energy resources we have in our own country. Despite Congress' inaction on a national level, there are still a few things people can do on their own to reduce their energy bills. The Alliance to Save Energy, of which I am a Board member, has come up with a list to help consumers save money on their own. These items are things you can do right now to save energy and cut your gas and electric bills.

• Avoid aggressive driving to boost gas mileage by 33 percent at highway speeds and 5 percent in town, saving up to annually.

• Make sure your car's oxygen sensor is working properly…replacing a faulty one can improve mileage by as much as 40 percent, saving up to annually.

• Reduce vehicle miles traveled by just 5 percent to save up to a year. If all U.S. drivers did this, we could save about $24 billion at today's gas prices.

• Fix a vehicle that is noticeably out of tune or has failed an emissions test to save about per year. Keep tires properly inflated to save about annually.

• Keep your heating and cooling system "tuned up," too, with a yearly check-up by a professional, and clean or replace your filters regularly.

• Seal air leaks and have sufficient insulation for your climate to cut heating and cooling bills by up to 20 percent, or about a year.

• Use Energy Star qualified products to cut related electricity costs by up to 30 percent.

• Use a programmable thermostat to cut heating and cooling costs by about 10 percent, or about yearly.

• Use Energy Star qualified lighting such as compact fluorescent light bulbs which use 3/4 less energy than standard incandescent lighting and last up to 10 times longer, yielding lifetime savings of up to per bulb.