John S. Wilder Post Office Building

Floor Speech

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Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I join with the other Members, primarily of the Tennessee delegation, who so aptly are wishing a happy birthday to the Governor today on his 88th birthday. And I do support strongly the naming of this post office after a public servant of such a unique character and longevity of service.

And now that we have dispensed with this portion, the suspension, the noncontroversial part, as is the tradition of this committee, sometimes we make a point of other things on this allocated time. And today I believe that it's appropriate to speak about the impending, before August, cap-and-tax scheme that has been proposed by the Speaker and is likely to come to a vote.

We on this side of the aisle are deeply concerned about a system which is designed to raise the cost of all utilities in America, with no offset, no offset, for the ultimate CO2 that is likely to be created by moving those jobs overseas. It's very clear that cap-and-tax, if not uniform and enforced, would simply move American jobs overseas. And the bill, which is being considered by the Global Warming, otherwise sometimes called the Junket Committee here, is in fact something that I oppose, and I oppose because it is very clear that we cannot, in this body, simply make a decision that we're going to stop producing a certain amount of CO2 in the United States. And this, I might mention, while Air Force One consumes an incredible amount of CO2 or produces an incredible amount of CO2 while flying empty over New York City.

The world and the air around us is not isolated. If we go forward with a cap-and-trade initiative that is not globally enforced by every single nation, we simply are pollution laundering. We're saying we're going to have cleaner cars here, we're going to have cleaner this here, and yet CO2 will be produced in other places. Already it is very clear that China, for every single product it produces, is more energy intensive than the same product produced in the United States. Literally, when you import the same product from China that would otherwise be made here, although it may be cheaper, it produces more CO2 and a great many other pollutants.

I've been to China. I've been to Hanoi. I have been to many of these countries, and what I generally see are leaves blackened from the burning of coal, with not even scrubbers, much less any sequestration.

So, Madam Speaker, as we do not disagree one bit on the naming of this post office, this side of the aisle has to make it very clear that we do object to the present form that is being proposed without any real inclusion of Republicans and with the American jobs at stake.

And with that, I would yield back the balance of my time.

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