[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 56 (Thursday, May 7, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E790-E791]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  THE AMERICAN ECONOMY PROTECTION ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOE KNOLLENBERG

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 7, 1998

  Mr. KNOLLENBERG. Mr. Speaker, today I joined my colleagues, JoAnne 
Emerson and Ron Klink, to introduce a bill to protect the economy of 
the United States. Specifically, this bill will prohibit the use of 
federal funds for any implementation of the Kyoto Protocol to the 
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change until Senate 
ratification. This bill is companion language to Senator Ashcroft's 
bill S. 2019.
  The Kyoto Protocol requires the United States to reduce its 
greenhouse gas emissions to seven percent below 1990 levels by 2008-
2012. Other industrialized nations must meet a similarly strict 
timetable. Meanwhile, the Kyoto Protocol exempts 132 developing 
nations, including China, India, Brazil, and Mexico, from any 
greenhouse gas reduction, even though these four nations alone are 
expected to emit half of the world's greenhouse gases by the year 2050. 
This creates a two-tiered environmental obligation, forcing the entire 
burden to reduce greenhouse emissions on industrialized nations while 
turning the developing world into a pollution enterprise zone.

[[Page E791]]

This won't eliminate greenhouse gases, or succeed in reversing global 
warming, it will just change their point of production.
  American families receive the brunt of the burden imposed by the 
Kyoto Protocol. The Wharton Econometric Forecasting Associates (WEFA), 
a well respected economic firm, has estimated the Kyoto Protocol would 
result in Americans paying 50 cents more for a gallon of gasoline and 
more than $2,000 per American household. WEFA also estimates the 
Protocol could result in the United States losing over a million jobs 
each year over a 15 year period.
  Even the Clinton Administration, strong supporters of the Kyoto 
Protocol, admit it could add $70 to $110 to the average American 
household's annual energy bill. And these estimates were based on 
several highly optimistic assumptions by White House economists.
  Furthermore, the United States Department of Energy studied the 
impact the Kyoto Protocol will have on six major manufacturing 
industries. Results indicate that the Kyoto targets and timetables to 
limit greenhouse gas emissions are tantamount to pink slips for the 
American worker. Studying petroleum refining, pulp and paper making, 
cement, steel, basic chemicals, and aluminum, the Department of Energy 
forecasts hundreds of thousands of American jobs lost and the suppliers 
for these materials moving to developing nations. Again, worldwide 
emissions won't be reduced, they will be shipped overseas, just like 
American jobs.
  The U.S. Constitution confers on the Senate the responsibility to 
evaluate a treaty on its merits and then to give or withhold its advice 
and consent. As an indicator of where the Senate stands on this issue, 
last year the Senate passed S. Res. 98 by a vote of 95-0, expressing 
the sense of the Senate that the United States should not sign onto any 
treaty placing America at a competitive disadvantage during the climate 
change negotiations in Kyoto, Japan.
  In Kyoto, the Clinton Administration completely ignored the Senate 
position, and did exactly the opposite. Now, there is wide concern that 
the Administration is working proactively to implement the Kyoto 
targets through regulatory fiat. Part of this stems from the 
Environmental Protection Agency indicating its plan to draft new Clean 
Air rules enacting portions of the Kyoto Protocol.
  The American Economy Protection Act will insure that the Kyoto 
Protocol is not implemented through the regulatory process. The 
Founding Fathers in their infinite wisdom provided that the Senate 
should be a check and balance on international treaties through the 
ratification process. This bill maintains the integrity of the U.S. 
Constitution and supports continued economic growth in the United 
States. I urge your support of this bill.

                          ____________________