Conservative Principles Now

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), ranking Member on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW), spoke to bloggers at The Heritage Foundation’s weekly Bloggers Briefing today and focused his remarks on the controversial “Climategate” scandal — the series of leaked e-mails that have blown holes through the theory of man-made global warming.

As Sen. Inhofe sat down to speak, he opined that he was just in the Senate trying to convince Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) to investigate the subject of the e-mails, instead of the people who uncovered the e-mails. Sen. Inhofe was the leader of the global warming opposition ten years ago when he chaired the EPW Committee; when a blogger asked him what he thought about the emergent news that the science was flawed, the Senator quipped, “Redemption.”

Senator Inhofe is not alone in his views on “Climategate.” The UK Telegraph called it the “greatest scandal in modern science,” and the UK MET is reevaluating over 160 years of climate data because “public opinion of man-made global warming has been shattered by leaked e-mails.” Sen. Inhofe seemed confident that neither climate bills would pass the Senate, but feared the Obama Administration would circumvent the legislative process and use the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to force regulation through the Clean Air Act. Sen. Inhofe fired back by releasing a YouTube video saying that the EPA finding that CO2 is a pollutant was based on faulty science.

Now, the United Nations is in the middle of the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, where “the science is settled.” However, as we have stated, the science is far from settled. Now, the world has learned that the basis of the science that climate change was founded on could be proven faulty. This has not stopped the UN’s International Panel on Climate Change from creating a treaty that will be costly to the US economy and not have any real impact on the environment. And it’s a treaty that would infringe on our national sovereignty.

You can listen to Sen. Inhofe’s remarks here.

You can watch the video of his remarks here.

Analysis –

An extension of unemployment insurance benefits will occupy the Senate for most of the week, again. Not only is this the wrong way to address the lack of jobs, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has numerous amendments, including those that may actually spur job creation. Shutting down the amendment process does not bode well for the upcoming health care debate. Americans and Senators are eager to start the health care debate, but Senator Reid has refused to release any details of the legislation.

Major Floor Action –

• The extension of unemployment benefits (HR 3548) faces a key procedural vote Monday afternoon. If successful, that measure will pass the Senate this week.
• Several stalled spending bills remain on the Senate’s backburner, including the Military Construction-VA appropriations bill (HR 3802) and the Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill (HR 2847).

Major Committee Action –

• The Environment and Public Works Committee will proceed to a markup of the Kerry-Boxer national energy tax next week, if Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) has her way. However, Republicans on the panel are considering whether to delay the markup because they do not have a full economic analysis of the legislation.
• An Energy and Natural Resources’ Subcommittee will hold a hearing on water and power bills. While it may be a mundane hearing, one would hope Senators would ask what impact cap-and-trade would have on electricity rates.
• The Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will hold a hearing on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Despite the innocuous sounding title, there are significant concerns with the proposed policy.