In Case You Missed it                                                                        CONTACT: John Donnelly
July 7, 2010                                                                                                  (317) 848-0201

(AFP News Release)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, July 7, 2010
AFP Contact: James Valvo (703) 224-3200

Americans for Prosperity Applauds Indiana U.S. Representative Dan Burton

-Signs No Climate Tax Pledge-

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The free market grassroots group Americans for Prosperity (AFP) today applauded Indiana U.S. Representative Dan Burton (5th District) for signing the group’s “No Climate Tax Pledge.”  Burton joins more than 625 bipartisan lawmakers and candidates on the federal, state and local levels pledging to “oppose legislation relating to climate change that includes a net increase in government revenue.”

“The one thing elected officials should be able to agree on is that global warming shouldn’t be used as an excuse to hike taxes on citizens and businesses,” said AFP Vice President for Policy Phil Kerpen.  “We encourage all of Indiana’s elected officials and candidates for elected office to sign the pledge.”

Cap-and-trade took its first step toward enactment last year when the U.S. House narrowly passed the Waxman-Markey energy tax bill, which escaped the lower chamber by a scant seven votes despite significant bipartisan opposition.  The Senate has struggled to pass companion legislation, with several key Democratic senators expressing opposition to passing the energy tax bill. 

President Obama has made no secret of his support for the bill, which would be the largest tax increase in American history.  The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has scored the House plan as an $846 billion increase in federal revenue, a burden that will be borne by taxpayers and consumers for decades to come.  Recent analysis by the Institute for Energy Research found the Kerry-Lieberman Senate bill would cost the nation more than 500,000 jobs by 2015 and decrease household income by over $1,000 by 2020. 

“Using the guise of climate change to transfer dollars from hard-working citizens to bureaucratic big government is unacceptable,” said Kerpen. “Regardless of their stance on global warming, this should be common ground for all of our elected officials at all levels of government.”

The pledge is available online at www.NoClimateTax.com.  AFP does not endorse candidates.  All elected officials and candidates are encouraged to sign the pledge and go on the record in opposition to using the climate change issue to increase taxes and grow the size of government.

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is a nationwide organization of citizen leaders committed to advancing every individual’s right to economic freedom and opportunity. AFP believes reducing the size and scope of government is the best way to safeguard individual productivity and prosperity for all Americans. AFP educates and engages citizens in support of restraining state and federal government growth, and returning government to its constitutional limits. AFP has more than one million  members, including members in all 50 states, and 30 state chapters and affiliates. More than 60,000 Americans in all 50 states have made a financial investment in AFP or AFP Foundation. For more information, visit www.americansforprosperity.org

###

MEDIA ADVISORY                                                                        CONTACT: John Donnelly
June 15, 2010                                                                                         (317) 848-0201

Burton Statement On President Obama's Oval Office Address

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN-05) issued the following statement in response to President Obama's Oval Office address on the Gulf oil spill and energy in America:

"The Gulf oil spill is a tragedy for our ecosystem and our economy, and I believe a disaster of this magnitude required President Obama's leadership and bold countermeasures from day one.  Nevertheless, it was important to see the President address the nation tonight and outline his strategy for cleaning the spill.

"President Obama also used this address to recommit his Administration to imposing a devastating national energy tax called 'cap-and-trade.'  At a time when our economy is struggling to recover, a national tax on energy would cost America millions of jobs, and force American families to pay over $3,000 more per year in higher energy bills. 

"Americans must know that a national energy tax will not clean up the Gulf oil spill, or prevent another disaster in the future.  I believe President Obama should focus on controlling and cleaning this oil spill, and then advance forward with a bipartisan energy reform effort in Congress that improves our energy infrastructure without raising taxes or sacrificing a single American job."

Background:

Visit http://burton.house.gov/pages/cap-and-trade to learn more about the national energy tax called "cap-and-trade" and for information about Rep. Burton's alternative approach, the American Energy Act.

###

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                              CONTACT: Joshua Gillespie
April 16, 2010                                                                                             (317) 848-0201

Rep. Burton Joins Lawsuit to Stop EPA’s End-Run Around Congress

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Dan Burton offered the following statement after joining the Southeastern Legal Foundation’s (SLF) petition challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) authority to regulate so-called Green House Gas (GHG) under the Clean Air Act.

“I am honored to join 15 of my congressional colleagues, the SLF, and more than a dozen companies in challenging the EPA’s blatant attempt to impose via regulation a devastating energy tax on American families and businesses. Hoosier families and small businesses are struggling to get by, and EPA’s carbon dioxide emission control regulations would raise taxes on every American who drives a car. But cars are only the first step; EPA won’t stop there. The Obama Administration and its liberal allies realize they can’t get carbon dioxide control legislation through the Senate, so the EPA – with President Obama’s blessing – is unconstitutionally taking matters into their own hands.

“EPA is starting with the auto industry but don’t be fooled, eventually, every time you flip on a light switch, or buy a product manufactured in the United States, you’ll be paying an EPA-imposed carbon tax. In fact, unless EPA is stopped, this backdoor attempt to impose a GHG energy tax on America will end up costing every Hoosier family as much as $3,100 a year in additional energy costs and will drive millions of good-paying American jobs overseas.

“According to the non-partisan Heritage Foundation, the EPA’s national energy tax would be particularly devastating to Hoosier’s living in my Congressional District:

• $720.1 Million in Gross State Product Losses on average from 2012-2035

• $265.7 Million in Personal Income Losses on average from 2012-2035

• 3,702 Non-farm Jobs Lost on average from 2012-2035

“If the Obama Administration succeeds in imposing their GHG energy tax through EPA regulation, we might as well throw the Constitution away because then our government will have become a government that rules, not through the democratic process, but by bureaucratic edict. This is not what our Founding Fathers intended; and I am going to continue to fight against this proposal with every fiber of my being.

Background:

The Southeastern Legal Foundation (SLF) is a national constitutional public interest law firm and policy center founded in 1976. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, SLF litigates and promotes public policy across the nation in federal and state courts, appearing more than three dozen times before the Supreme Court of the United States. SLF advocates for individual liberties, limited government within the confines of the U.S. Constitution, and the free enterprise system in the courts of law and public opinion..

###

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                              CONTACT: John Donnelly
December 7, 2009                                                                                    (202) 225-2276 

 Burton: EPA Finding Signals Intent To Bypass Congress

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN-05) issued the following reaction to the Environmental Protection Agency's so-called "endangerment finding" that greenhouse gasses are a danger to public health and welfare:

"Today's EPA announcement indicates a realization that Congress will not be able to pass the President’s Cap-and-Trade bill, and so the Administration has been forced to take matters into their own hands.  This ruling is the first step toward, what I believe to be, the dictatorial maneuver of bypassing Congress entirely, and enforcing a cap-and-trade plan that will devastate jobs across America, particularly in my home state of Indiana, which has already been hit hard by the recession.

"Just like many instances of government control, the EPA will first creep in with automobile emissions regulations, and then government bureaucrats will start implementing fines and, perhaps, even legal actions against businesses and industries that emit greenhouse gasses.  Clearly, the President's recent brainstorming “jobs summit” has yielded only more job-killing ideas. 

"With Al Gore and the recently defanged “climate science” community against the ropes, I believe President Obama has orchestrated more of the political theater that he's known for, and timed this announcement to retake the headlines and boost the morale of the Copenhagen climate summit participants.  Not only does the Obama Administration refuse to acknowledge the undermined climate data exposed by the Climategate email scandal, but they ignore the many calls for oversight by using the questionable 'science' as a basis for grasping more control over our nation's economy.

"If the Administration carries out their cap-and-trade plan through today's EPA ruling, then this will be government, not through the democratic process, but by bureaucratic edict.  This is not what America is about."

###

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                CONTACT: John Donnelly
December 2, 2009                                                                                      (202) 225-2276 

 

Burton Requests Hearing On Climategate Scandal

Seeks Answers Before President Obama Leaves For Copenhagen 

 

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As the legitimacy behind climate science has come under fire in the wake of the Climategate scandal at the University of East Anglia, Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN-05) has called on House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman to convene a hearing before President Obama departs for the climate summit in Copenhagen next week.  Rep. Burton released the following statement after sending his request to Chairman Berman:

 

"It is imperative that Congress investigate and conduct public hearings on the climate research scandal that has emerged from the University of East Anglia - a situation commonly referred to as Climategate.  

 

"Congress and the American people deserve to have a better understanding of this controversial situation before the President proclaims our taxpayers and government committed to any sort of carbon cap-and-tax plan based on an undermined science.  I sincerely hope Chairman Berman lets the Foreign Affairs Committee air out the issues within this developing scandal prior to the President's departure for Copenhagen."

 

Text of the hearing request pasted below.  PDF of original document attached.

TEXT:

 

December 2, 2009

 

The Honorable Howard Berman

Chairman

House Committee on Foreign Affairs

U.S. House of Representatives

2170 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

 

Dear Mr. Chairman: 

 

            Emails have recently come to light which draw into serious question the scientific validity of the climate change research conducted by scientists at the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia; research which forms the foundation of the conclusions and recommendations of the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).  As you are aware, the IPCC’s recommendations form the basis for the ongoing international negotiations on climate change being car ried out in Copenhagen, Denmark.  I believe it is imperative that the Committee fully investigate the East Anglia scandal before the U.S. delegation departs for Copenhagen; and I respectfully ask you to convene a full Committee hearing on this subject as quickly as possible.

 

I believe this request is justified for several reasons.  First, in 2007, the IPCC declared that evidence of global warming was "unequivocal" based on its analysis of climate data provided by the University of East Anglia and others. Countless international reports, Congressional Committee reports and Congressional Research Service documents cite the IPCC findings as authoritative. Yet, the emails and documents recently made public seem to reveal that the data supplied by the University of East Anglia was not subject to the k ind of open debate and scientific review that many of the scientists at the University or affiliated with the IPCC have claimed.  In fact, the emails and documents seem to point to a concerted and deliberate effort by the scientists at the University of East Anglia to falsify data, exclude opposing viewpoints, avoid freedom-of-information laws, and manipulate the peer-review process to justify a preordained politically motivated conclusion. 

 

Any actions taken by the United States to mitigate climate change will cost Billions if not Trillions of taxpayer dollars and impact the lives of every American. Republicans and Democrats agree that any policies implemented domestically or internationally to deal with climate change must be based on sound science.  The President must have the most accurate information possible before proceeding with any new climate change commitments in Copenhagen; and the American people must be convinced that the scie nce behind those commitments is sound.  A Committee hearing investigating the East Anglia scandal can achieve both goals. 

 

Second, the IPCC has stated it “Reviews and assesses the most recent scientific, technical and socio-economic information produced worldwide relevant to the understanding of climate change… Review is an essential part of the IPCC process, to ensure an objective and complete assessment of current information.”  The East Anglia emails beg the question, if the IPCC lacks in conducting the scientific reviews it claims to conduct, was it deliberately misled by the researchers at East Anglia, or was it complicit in suppressing scientific data that it deemed damaging to its agenda?  As the IPCC is supported and funded by the United Nations and IPCC members (including the United States), Congress has a responsibility to the U.S. taxpayer to investigate and demand a transparent process of scientific review within UN organizations that receive our funding; especially when the science has such broad implications for U.S. and international policy. Therefore it is imperative that we know the answer to that question.  As the House Foreign Affairs Committee has jurisdiction over the United States’ involvement with the United Nations, a Committee hearing on the subject is appropriate and warranted.

 

Mr. Chairman, the debate surrounding the East Anglia emails will not simply go away.  We have a responsibility to the American people to investigate this matter thoroughly and completely.  I hope you will give all due consideration to my request for a hearing and I look forward to hearing from you soon regarding your proposed course of action.

 

I thank you in advance for your time and attention to this very serious matter. 

 

                                    Sincerely,

 

                                    Dan Burton

                                    Ranking Member

                                    Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia

 

 

###