[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 32 (Wednesday, March 6, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Page S1149]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     THE STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS

  I notice my time is expiring, but I want to mention something that 
came out in the State of the Union Message. I hope I will have a chance 
to do this later on today.
  When the President was talking about greenhouse gas, as he has been 
talking about for a long time, he made several comments. I think this 
was talked about more in the State of the Union Message than anything 
else he talked about.

       Yes, it's true that no single event makes a trend. But the 
     fact is that the 12 hottest years on record have all come in 
     the last 15.

  That is just flat wrong. Even NASA's James Hansen, who officially has 
been the leader on the other side of this issue, admits that global 
temperature standstill is real, and mean global temperatures have been 
flat for the last decade. Later on I am going to go over one by one the 
statements he has made. I would only suggest that this is something we 
need to keep in mind.
  In 1895, we went into this hysteria at that time because there was a 
cold snap: We are all going to freeze to death. Another ice age is 
coming. We are all going to die.
  In 1920, it was the same thing except it was a heat spell. This, 
obviously, wasn't true at that time, but everyone was getting 
hysterical. These 20-year cycles keep coming and going. You can set 
your watch by them. Except in 1945, it was another cold spell that 
lasted until 1975. The interesting thing about this is that 1945 was 
the year that had the largest release of CO2 of any time in 
the history of this country, and that precipitated not a warming trend 
but another cold trend. The warming trend, of course, came in 1975.
  Anyway, these are cycles. God is still up there. We are going to have 
these cycles take place. Later on today, hopefully, I want to take each 
statement that the President has made and show that those statements 
weren't right.
  One thing that is true--one thing that no one disagrees with--is that 
the cost of having some type of a cap-and-trade system that the 
President wants would be between $300 billion and $400 billion a year. 
By the admission of the past Director of the EPA, Lisa Jackson--when I 
asked the question: If we were to incur all these taxes, would 
something we do in the United States affect the release of 
CO2 worldwide, She said: No. Because the problem isn't here. 
The problem is in China. The problem is in India and other places.
  So, again, for those who believe that CO2 is causing 
global warming or other climate disasters, keep in mind, even the EPA 
Director appointed by President Obama agrees that would not reduce any 
CO2 worldwide.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Republican whip.
  Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that following 
my remarks, the Senator from Kentucky, Mr. Paul, be recognized.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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