Importance of Abundant Energy

Floor Speech

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Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I think tonight is a great night for us all to get together. While we are very concerned about the cost to American taxpayers and the fact that we will be going away from our fossil fuels, which are so abundant, so accessible and so affordable, there is another issue that takes place at the same time.

In the Paris protocol, we have heard the President say very clearly--and he has used this many times before--that things aren't getting done at the pace that he would like and that he has a phone and he has a pen and, if Congress can't act, he will act.

Well, I would like to suggest to the President, in fact, it is kind of shocking and stunning that a former professor of constitutional law would have a total disregard for the Constitution. I would like to tell the President that the Constitution is not a suggestion. It is who we are. It is what makes us an exceptional Nation.

Now, the United Nations' Framework Convention on Climate Change is taking place right now in Paris. It is stunning that the legacy of one man would overshadow what is good for not only our country, but the world.

Decisions made by this President and the commitments made by this President, he looks at it as an executive decision, not as a treaty, a treaty that requires him returning to the House and to the Senate. Particularly treating this as a treaty, it would take two-thirds of the Senate to concur with whatever it is that we are proposing. Again, as I said, this is a former professor of constitutional law. Yet, he continually defies it. He makes the House irrelevant.

This is not, by the way, a Republican or Democrat issue. This is an American issue. This goes to the very framework and the very foundation of who we are as a Nation. So when you look at this, it is really hard to believe that there is such disregard.

I would just say to the President that, if you go to article II, section 2, clause 2, it is very clearly stated: ``The President ..... shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur .....''

Again, this is an overreach by an executive. It doesn't matter if it is a Republican sitting in the White House or a Democrat sitting in the White House or an Independent or a Libertarian sitting in the White House. It clearly is defined in our Constitution how these powers work.

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Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his contribution.

I mean, it really does come down to, well, tonight we are talking about energy and we are talking about setting targets and timetables that will be very expensive for hardworking American taxpayers' money. I would like to remind the President that the money he is talking about committing is not his. It belongs to hardworking American taxpayers.

This insane idea that somehow there is an endless amount of money to be thrown around the world for whatever reason possible and knowing that, really, the Paris protocol is nothing more than a conversation taking place in Paris.

There is no commitment from these countries to do all these things. There is an ask for these countries to do these things. What they are asking is: If we do comply with these suggestions, these targets, these timetables, will we be subsidized by the United States of America?

The President has been unbelievable to make the commitments that he continues to make. He does not have that power. Our Constitution clearly defines the separation of powers. It is clearly structured so that no one body can run roughshod over the other body. This has been a concern forever. Yet, this President consistently time after time disregards the House and the Senate.

As I said earlier, this is not about Republicans or Democrats. This is about America and America's future. In this case, it is about energy. But as we go forward, what other overreaches will this Executive take? What other things will he do because it is about his legacy and not about the well-being of our country and our people. It is shocking. It is stunning that he would continue on this path.

What is even more stunning to me is that the American people sit idly by and watch this happen day after day, week after week, month after month. In 7 years of watching this, they sit back and say: I am not sure that he doesn't have the power to do this. Well, let me tell you, it is clearly defined in our Constitution that this President does not have this authority. In fact, no President, no Executive has the authority to do what this President is continuing to do.

As we meet here in America's House and we look at what can you do, because people back home tell me all the time, ``Look, I agree with you, but what can you do about it?'' and I know that for myself and my colleagues, we refuse to sit by idly and watch our Nation be given away and watch our Constitution be run over roughshod because of one man's legacy. This is not what is good for America. This is what is good for this administration and this President. That is not only shameful, it is unconstitutional and cannot be tolerated.

That is why, with Senator Lee in the Senate and myself, we have come up with H. Con. Res. 97 that states any commitment of funds, hardworking American taxpayer funds, has got to come before the Senate for its advice and consent.

As I said earlier, we can debate and we can talk and we can amend, but what we cannot condone is an Executive who has a total disregard for this House and for the Senate. As I said earlier, we need colleagues on both sides. This is not a Republican issue or a Democrat issue. This comes down to the very foundation of who we are as a country.

If we turn our back on this, what will be next? The continual disregard for the Constitution is not only of grave concern to me, to my colleagues, but every single American, regardless of how you vote or how you register. That is not the issue, my friends.

The issue is, when do the American people in America's House, with the Senate, stand up and say there will be no commitment of hardworking American taxpayer dollars unless it comes before the Senate as a treaty and gets the advice and consent of the Senate, two-thirds of which are required to pass this?

I know we are coming to an end in Paris, and I know there is great concern of getting to Paris to find out exactly what the Paris Protocol is structured with, but I would just say this: Before you pack your bags and leave, take a copy of your Constitution with you.

For those folks sitting back home and watching this happen, please, get out your Constitutions and look. For our schools, please start to preach and teach the Constitution, of which too many Americans are woefully uninformed.

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Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. I would tell you this, and I think if there is anything more telling of the view that this administration has, all you have to do is go back in time to March of 2015 this year when Josh Earnest, who represents the White House in all the briefings, was asked by a reporter in regard to the Paris Protocol and in regard to the climate control conference that would be taking place.

This is so typical of this administration. The reporter looks to Mr. Earnest and says to him: Is this the kind of agreement that Congress should have the ability to sign off on?

Now, you would think that somebody who works for a former constitutional law professor would have a little bit of an idea when it comes to speaking; and even while they may feel in their heart that they have a total disregard for this body, I don't think that they would be encouraged to speak out the way Josh Earnest did that day. Let me read what Josh Earnest said when the reporter asked him: Is this the kind of agreement that Congress should have the ability to sign off on?

He looks him right in the eye and says: I think it is hard to take seriously from some Members of Congress who deny the fact that climate change exists that they should have some opportunity to render judgment about a climate change agreement.

Is that not stunning? And not only stunning, but chilling that, coming out of the White House, the spokesman for the President of the United States again consistently expresses the attitude of this President in that: Are you kidding me? We are actually going to have the people's House, the people's Representatives weigh in on a climate change initiative? They are not qualified. They only represent the people. No. We will make that decision. And he again totally trashes the House of Representatives.

By the way, for my friends who don't speak up when this happens to them, you got trashed, too, my friends. I have watched you stand and applaud a President who says consistently that: I do not need the House of Representatives to effect change. I will use my phone and I will use my pen, and I am tired of waiting for these people.

Well, Mr. President, once again I say to you that the Constitution is not a suggestion. It is who we are as a nation. It is what makes us great. It is what allows the people to decide how they will be governed, not the government to decide how the people will be governed. This is such upside-down thinking.

While I am concerned, as you are, with the abandonment of our fossil fuels and turning our economic revival upside down, I am more concerned with an administration that consistently turns upside down our Constitution, runs roughshod over the House of Representatives, disregards the Senate, and then sits back and says: This is the way it is going to be because I am the President of the United States.

I tell you, Mr. President, you are the President of

the United States. You take the same oath all of us take. If for some reason you can't remember what it is, please take a look at it and remind yourself who you are, what you are, and whom you represent.

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