Providing For Congressional Disapproval of a Rule Submitted By the Environmental Protection Agency

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. President, it is fascinating to listen to my colleague and friend from Rhode Island because I have the National Journal Daily printed today. It has back-to-back pages talking about the terror, the horror in Paris. Obviously the thoughts and heartfelt condolences of the people of this country continue to go out to our friends in France, who have stood by us, and we will stand by them.

One page talks about how President Obama has continued to underestimate ISIS. This is in today's paper, quoting President Obama, saying: ``The analogy we use around here sometimes, and I think is accurate, is if a JV team puts on Lakers uniforms, that doesn't make them Kobe Bryant.''

The President has continued to underestimate ISIS.

The other side of the page: ``ISIS vs. Climate Change.'' It talks about the Democratic debate Saturday night--national television--after the tragic events in Paris the night before. The moderator asked one of the leading Democrats running for President--running second in the polls now--if that candidate had a chance to back off on his claims that climate change is the greatest security threat facing the country. That candidate said: ``In fact, climate change is directly related to the growth of terrorism.'' That is the position I just heard from the Senator from Rhode Island. It is a position we hear from a leading candidate for President on the Democratic side of the aisle. I would wonder how many Americans believe that who--if they heard that statement, believe that is true.

That is why I come to the floor today to talk about President Obama's plans--his plans to tear down the American energy reliability, American energy stability, things that are important for our national security, because he wants to remake energy into a form he prefers. The President has a strategy to do it. He has made it clear. He said that when he was running for President in 2008. He bragged that his plan--he said if it went through, that ``electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.'' And ever since then, President Obama has been pushing to make that happen, even though he couldn't get it passed. When he tried to get part of his plan through Congress, even the Democrats rejected it. They knew that the American people didn't want it and that the American economy couldn't afford it.

Did President Obama listen to the American people? Absolutely not. Did he accept the overwhelming judgment of Congress--a bipartisan approach--that his extreme attacks on American energy were a bad idea? No, he didn't listen to that, either. The President is much more interested in the opinion of far-left, extreme environmentalists than he is in the opinion of hard-working Americans. He has done everything he can to give his plans the effect of law without asking Congress to actually pass them as laws. He has had his Environmental Protection Agency draw up regulations--regulations that would shut down American energy producers and damage our own economy. That is what the President's own Energy Information Administration has said. The agency put out a report--a report that found that the EPA's new rule on carbon dioxide emissions would close coal-fired powerplants, would raise electricity prices, and would reduce the gross domestic product of our Nation.

That is just one of many rules this administration has been pushing into force without legal support. Every one of these rules will mean hard-working Americans will lose their jobs and hard-working families will be paying higher electric bills. Put it all together, and the price tag could reach hundreds of billions of dollars.

Who is asking President Obama to do this? Who is asking to pay more in their electric bill every month? People don't want it, and the President doesn't have the authority to do it. That is why he is not asking Congress to weigh in on his plans. That is why he is pushing these rules by unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats instead of going to the people and their representatives. The American people do have a voice, and they are making their voice heard through us today.

We are here talking about two rules in particular. These are the restrictions on existing powerplants and on new powerplants, plants that haven't even been built yet. These are the core of what the President calls his Clean Power Plan.

We are here to say today that these rules go too far. The Obama administration has tried this before. It has pushed through other regulations that people didn't want and can't afford. The administration has said that it gets to decide what is best, that it gets to decide what people should do. The courts legitimately have said: not so fast.

This summer, the Supreme Court rejected a different EPA rule because the administration never bothered--this is what the Court said--to take into account the costs of the rule. The Supreme Court said: ``One would not say that it is even rational''--this is the Supreme Court talking about the President's rules; it isn't even rational--``never mind `appropriate,' to impose billions of dollars of economic costs in return for a few dollars in health or environmental benefits.''

Two courts have blocked the EPA's rule on waters of the United States. One of the courts said that the rule was likely the result of ``a process that is inexplicable, arbitrary, and devoid of a reasoned process.''

All of these rules are suffering from the same kinds of problems. The Obama administration, once again, has been acting far beyond its own authority and far beyond anything that is rational or appropriate for our Nation. The same day that President Obama put out the new rule on his so-called Clean Power Plan, 26 States filed lawsuits in Federal court to stop the disastrous rule. Twenty-three States sued to block the rule on new powerplants. Twenty-seven States have sued to block the rule on existing powerplants. I believe these States are going to win in court because the rules are so extreme and this administration is so out of control.

President Obama doesn't really care about any of that. He thinks he still wins even when he loses in court. He thinks if he can drag it out long enough, businesses will have to spend the money and comply anyway.

That is actually what the President's EPA chief said before the last regulation got rejected by the Supreme Court. She went on television a few days before the decision and said that it didn't matter what the Supreme Court said. She said that it didn't matter if the administration loses because the rule has already been in place for 3 years.

That is exactly what the Obama administration is counting on this time as well. That is why it is so important that Congress act today to block these rules from taking effect. We are debating the two measures that will do that. The measure by Senator McConnell and Senator Manchin--this is bipartisan--would block the rule for new powerplants, and the second measure by Senator Capito and Senator Heitkamp--again, a Republican and Democrat working together--would block the rule for existing powerplants.

These are bipartisan resolutions of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act. They are our chance for Congress to stand up for the people that we represent. America can't afford these illegal rules to go into effect and be there for 3 years before the Court tosses them out.

There is another reason that Congress needs to vote to strike down these expensive, burdensome regulations immediately. Later this month, the President will be participating in the international talks on climate change. This is a meeting of about 200 countries from around the world to limit the amount of carbon dioxide and other emissions that each country can produce.

The President desperately wants his so-called Clean Power Plan so people will say he is leading on the issue. Without these illegal regulations, he has nothing to offer. Congress needs to make clear that the American people do not support these regulations. Foreign diplomats at the climate conference need to understand that these rules will not stand up in court.

President Obama's ego is writing checks that his administration can't cash. Any climate deal based on these flawed rules is simply not worth the paper it is printed on. It is time for President Obama to be honest about what he can and cannot do. If he will not admit that, then Congress is going to have to make it clear so that everyone understands. The American people do have a voice. They will not allow these reckless and destructive regulations to shut down American energy production

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source