U.N. Climate Conference

Floor Speech

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Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I also come to the floor today to talk about another issue, and that is that there is a climate conference meeting right now in Europe, the United Nations climate conference. Earlier this week, House Speaker Pelosi and 14 other Democrats traveled to Europe for the conference. To me, they went there to undermine the President and to push their radical Green New Deal.

They told the international group that the United States is committed to the Paris climate deal. That is just not true. Secretary of State Pompeo said that the Paris climate deal imposed an unfair economic burden on American workers, on American businesses, and on American taxpayers. President Trump began formally withdrawing from the Paris climate deal last month.

It may appeal to Democrats' liberal elite to talk about climate in Europe. Republicans, however, are going to stay focused on the work ahead of us at home. We have a packed year-end agenda here in Congress. Americans expect us to continue the progress we have made on jobs and on the economy--incredible success. This means passing better trade deals, funding the government, improving our roads--the things we were elected to do. The Speaker is nowhere to be found--certainly not on this continent. Rather than pass American priorities, the Speaker is sidelined in Spain.

Republican pro-growth policies have led to a worker boom. Wages are up, and unemployment is down. Wages are up to a 50-year high. Unemployment is down to a 50-year low. I mean, think about that. As a result of Republican tax cuts and regulatory relief and unleashing the American energy, right now, today, we have the lowest African-American unemployment in history. People have more take-home pay, more money in their pockets, and costs are lower because of the regulatory relief. And we have seen this with shopping over the Thanksgiving weekend in terms of people feeling that confidence in the economy and in their futures.

Democrats' message is more regulation and higher costs, which lead to fewer jobs. It is not going to work at home, and it is certainly not going to work in Wyoming. Maybe they think it will work in Europe.

But just to clear up any confusion, President Trump has gotten us out of the Paris Agreement. Republicans' pro-growth agenda has us producing and exporting more energy at home, and we are seeing millions of new jobs.

Republicans are going to stay clear-eyed and focused on the economy. We are going to continue to deliver real results, tangible results, results that people can understand and see and hold on to. We need to do that for the people who elected us, and we will continue to do it.

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