[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 139 (Wednesday, October 8, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H8699]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               WHITE HOUSE INTENTIONS AT KYOTO CONFERENCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas [Mr. DeLay] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about the Clinton White 
House and its intentions at the Kyoto Conference regarding global 
warming. Most Americans are not aware that there will be a conference 
in Japan.
  Protecting and preserving the environment is a goal shared by all 
Americans. We all want to drink clean water, we want to breath clean 
air, and we want to pass on a cleaner America to our children. We could 
get there by taking common sense steps to clean up our environment, by 
encouraging smarter partnerships between State and Federal governments, 
and by relying on sound science while resisting media scares, but we 
cannot get there by increasing regulations, increasing taxes, limiting 
freedom, slowing economic growth, and hurting our Nation's 
competitiveness. We cannot get there with policies that encourage 
abortions worldwide.
  Sadly, the Clinton administration has embarked on the second path. 
They have promulgated clean air regulations that will strangle economic 
growth and affect every American family's lives.

                              {time}  1830

  They have floated an energy tax that will hurt American consumers, 
proposing as much as a 60-cent increase in the cost of a gallon of gas. 
They have publicly supported policies that will lead to a worldwide 
assault on unborn children, and they may even sign off on a global 
warming treaty that will hurt our competitiveness at the expense of 
other nations, cost Americans thousands of jobs, all for a cause that 
makes, frankly, Chicken Little seem rational.
  Today I want to focus on the Global Warming Treaty that will be 
discussed at the Kyoto conference later on this fall. Asthmatic 
children will be victimized by this treaty. Just look at what is going 
on today.
  In order to stay in compliance with its provisions, the Environmental 
Protection Agency has embarked on a crusade to ban inhalers used by 
asthmatic children because they contain chlorofluorocarbons. Though 
CFC-powered inhalers account for less than 1\1/2\ percent of the 
world's CFC emissions and although these same inhalers are the best and 
cheapest way for inner city children to get relief from asthma, and I 
do not know if Members know, but inner city children are six times more 
likely to die from asthma attacks, these inner city children get relief 
by these cheap and good inhalers, but the EPA wants to eliminate these 
products from the market.
  Dozens of medical groups have petitioned to bring some common sense 
to the EPA, but those pleas, unfortunately, have fallen on deaf ears. 
The regulations will go forward, no matter what will happen to the 
children of this country and around the world, for that matter, because 
many countries follow the lead of the EPA.
  But it is not just asthmatic children who will be victimized by this 
treaty. Unborn children will also be victimized. Just last week the 
Vice President, Al Gore, implied that overpopulation fosters global 
warming and suggested that expanding abortion programs in developing 
countries would help protect the environment.
  According to Washington Times, the Vice President said, and I quote,

       The Vice President, warning that the overpopulation fosters 
     global warming, yesterday suggested expanding birth control 
     and abortion programs in developing countries to help reduce 
     the environmental threat.

  Mr. Speaker, killing children is no way to protect the environment. 
Children will not be the only victims of this Global Warming Treaty. 
Our Nation's economic health is also at stake. At the Kyoto meeting the 
United States and other developed nations may enter into an agreement 
that will force them to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. That 
agreement, however, will let developing nations off the hook. In fact, 
developing nations such as China, South Korea, India, and many others, 
will not face any emissions reduction requirements. These nations will 
benefit at the expense of the United States and retroactivity of the 
developed world. The United States will be forced to raise taxes and 
impose harsh emissions restrictions and regulations, causing U.S. 
companies to ship jobs and factories overseas to those nations not 
bound by the Kyoto treaty.
  Mr. Speaker, I think the real environmental disaster is this 
administration and its attitude towards our world's children and for 
America's working families.

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