[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 68 (Wednesday, May 7, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2741-S2743]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             CLIMATE CHANGE

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, it is not often I agree with what the Koch 
brothers say or do. Their radical agenda is normally so far out of the 
mainstream that it makes opposition to their agenda very easy.
  So imagine my surprise when last week I read a quote from a Koch 
spokesperson in a Kansas newspaper. That is where they are based. Here 
is what the Koch brothers said:

       We are not experts on climate change. We do believe there 
     should be free and open debate on the climate issue and it 
     should be based on sound science and intellectual honesty.

  They go on to say:

       The debate should take place among the scientific 
     community, examining all points of view and void of politics, 
     personal attacks and partisan agendas.

  Listen to what they said: sound science and intellectual honesty from 
the Koch brothers on this issue.
  Their statement sounds pretty good. I agree that the Koch brothers, 
Koch Industries, and their myriad political organizations are not 
experts on climate change--and that is an understatement.
  I also agree that the debate on climate change should be based on 
sound science. In fact, the sound science has long been debated. The 
Presiding Officer has spent 38 years in Congress and has been one of 
the leading proponents of recognizing over the decades how our climate 
is changing. Everyone sees it is changing but not the Koch brothers, 
and I will explain a little more.
  The sound science has long been debated and has reached a clear, 
unambiguous conclusion that climate change is here and it is real.
  Of course Charles and David Koch know the debate on climate change is 
already taking place within the science community. They know that. The 
debate has been open and it has been free.
  The overwhelming evidence proves that pollution is causing climate 
change.
  No one has to take my word for it, including the multi-zillionaire 
Koch brothers--the two richest people in the world.
  Just yesterday, the White House--not the White House; they announced 
it--released a report and an assessment that was authored by more than 
300 scientists. Newspapers all over the world are talking about this.
  One of the Hill newspapers we all read has a picture on the front 
that is stunning. It shows a picture of a man walking near a portion of 
a scenic highway that collapsed near Pensacola, FL. A new report--I am 
talking about the one released yesterday--finds climate change is 
rapidly--rapidly--turning the United States into a stormy and dangerous 
place and notes rising sea levels and natural disasters. The headline: 
``New Climate Report: People's Lives Are at Risk.'' Subhead: ``Despite 
warnings, no signs of changed minds on Hill.''

[[Page S2742]]

  The former head of the environment committee in the Senate said it is 
a hoax.
  The Washington Post: ``Study: Climate Risks Growing.'' It has graphs 
here about the land surface air temperature rising, sea surface 
temperature rising, sea level rising, Arctic Sea melting, glacier mass 
decreasing.
  Headline, Washington Post: ``Study: Climate Risks Growing.'' Subhead: 
``Every Part of U.S. Being Affected.'' And, of course, the sub-
subheadline: ``Conservatives criticize federal assessment.''
  New York Times, front page, shows a picture of the United States: 
Rising temperatures. Now, plus two degrees, that is so significant. The 
temperature rising just less than a degree can change weather patterns 
in the world, and we are talking about two degrees. Now, they are 
changing.
  Most of the State of Nevada is a desert. We have the most mountainous 
State in the Union, but most of Nevada is a desert. We have 314 
separate mountain ranges. We have 32 mountains over 11,000 feet high. 
We have a mountain that is 14,000 feet high. But even in Nevada we are 
at the top of the rung in one part of Nevada. It is red, as it is in 
many places, from east to the west, to the Midwest. How can people deny 
what is going on? Look at the storms.
  Mark Pryor described to our caucus yesterday what happened in 
Arkansas. The winds blew in Arkansas at 190 miles an hour. Think about 
that. I was in Reno, NV, once when the wind was blowing 80 miles an 
hour. I couldn't believe the wind could blow any harder. It is so 
frightening. I was staying in a hotel. They had picture windows. I put 
my bed in the bathroom so it wouldn't be near windows. But the wind 
blowing 100 miles an hour faster than that, that is what happened in 
Arkansas. As he described, these weren't mobile homes; these were brick 
structures that were just disintegrated. All that was left when that 
storm hit was the foundation--most of the time.
  So the Koch brothers want some open debate. It is here. We have done 
it.
  The report I am referring to concluded there are disastrous--
disastrous--climate changes taking place on our Earth due to human 
activity.
  While the Koch brothers admit to not being experts on the matter, 
these billionaire oil tycoons are certainly experts at contributing to 
climate change. That is what they do very well. They are one of the 
main causes of this--not a cause, but one of the main causes.

  An analysis by the University of Massachusetts-Amherst--the Presiding 
Officer knows this well as he is from the State of Massachusetts--
ranked Koch Industries as one of the Nation's biggest air and water 
polluters, period. In one year, Koch Industries released 31 million 
pounds of toxic air. How much is that? It is more than Dow Chemical, 
ExxonMobil, and General Electric, combined, emit. They are the 
champions.
  The Koch brothers' actions against the environment aren't limited, 
though, to toxic emissions. Charles and David Koch are waging a war 
against anything that protects the environment.
  I know that sounds absurd, but it is true. These two billionaire oil 
barons are actively campaigning now and spending tons of money against 
anything that seeks to curb pollution, limit our dependence on fossil 
fuels or lower energy costs for working families. Even the Keystone 
debate--they are one of the main owners of all of that stuff up there, 
that ugly tar stuff in Canada. They are, if not the largest, the second 
largest owner of that stuff up there.
  The Kochs are pumping millions of dollars into political 
organizations, fighting legislation that is good for the environment. 
They are not doing it only in Washington; they are doing it in State 
governments. They have intimidated State legislators.
  This is ironic, having come from them, I guess--there should be a 
different way of describing it--given their statement urging the ``void 
of politics . . . and partisan agendas'' on issues pertaining to the 
environment.
  For instance, we in the Senate are now considering an energy 
efficiency bill. Who is working against that more than anyone else? The 
Koch brothers. This bipartisan legislation will spur the use of energy 
efficiency technologies in private homes and in commercial buildings at 
no cost to the taxpayers. This bill will make our country more energy 
independent, protect our environment, and save consumers on their 
energy bills. If that is not enough, it would also create 200,000 
jobs--American jobs that can't be exported. Even the Chamber of 
Commerce--by the way, huge amounts of money come from the Koch brothers 
to the Chamber of Commerce to run ads against Democratic Senators. But, 
in this instance, the Chamber of Commerce even supports Shaheen-
Portman.
  Unsurprisingly, Americans for Prosperity, the main arm of the Koch 
brothers--not the only one; they have lots of them--has been vocal in 
its opposition to even this bill I just talked about--energy 
efficiency. Remember, these are the same Koch brothers whose president 
Tim Phillips recently bragged that his organization targets Republicans 
who work on environmental issues. Again, you can't make up stuff like 
this. Here is a direct quote:

       What it means for candidates on the Republican side is, if 
     you . . . buy into green energy or you play footsie on this 
     issue, you do so at your political peril. The vast majority 
     of people who are involved in the [Republican] nominating 
     process--the conventions and the primaries--are suspect of 
     the science. And that's our influence. Groups like Americans 
     for Prosperity have done it.

  They say, if you do anything that is good for the environment, they 
are against you. That is what they said.
  So try to do something to affect climate change? The Koch brothers 
and their billions of dollars are coming after you not only here in 
Washington but in State legislatures around the country.
  So that statement says it all. The Koch brothers admit they and their 
radical followers don't accept the science of climate change. The 
President of the Koch brothers' organization is actually bragging about 
Republicans' denial of evidence-based climate change. The Kochs know 
that scientists across the globe aren't working to mislead the world 
about the climate. They know that. These 300 scientists who are the 
nexus of the report issued yesterday are people working at 
universities--as indicated, at the University of Massachusetts, the one 
quote I cited today. All over the country, these people are trying to 
figure out what is going on. They know what is going on, and that is 
what the report is about.

  Charles and David Koch choose to ignore climate change. They--the 
Kochs--choose to put our environment at risk. Why? Because it makes 
them richer, more affluent. They are making billions of dollars and in 
so doing are significantly damaging our environment.
  A New York Times article recently highlighted the Kochs' attempt to 
fight renewable energy, even in State legislatures. It became so 
pronounced that the New York Times wrote an editorial criticizing these 
two wealthy men. As States promote solar and wind energy by offering 
incentives to renewable energy companies, the Koch brothers see how it 
will affect their bottom line.
  They do not like that. They want to continue their coal operations, 
their diesel fuel operations, their spewing of chemicals all over 
America because they can make more money.
  As renewable energy grows and becomes more efficient--and it is--oil 
and coal become a smaller piece of the pie. That is a fact, and that 
just won't cut it for Charles and David because it affects their bottom 
line. How unfortunate for the world that the Koch brothers trash this 
beautiful planet and jeopardize my children's and my children's 
children's health and future just to add more zeros to their huge bank 
account. Bloomberg publications now estimate that the Kochs' combined 
wealth exceeds $100 billion. How much money is enough for these two 
men?
  I urge my Republican colleagues in the Senate to stand up to them. 
Well, they won't. You know, after I have given this speech, a few of 
them will come down here and say: It is freedom of speech. What is 
wrong?
  We have an obligation to stand when these lies are perpetrated to the 
American people. So no Republican is going to come and defend this 
energy efficiency bill.
  Energy efficiency and independence is good for our country, it is 
good for American families, and it is good for the Earth we live in. So 
do not be fooled--do not be fooled--by the greed of these billionaires 
named Koch.

[[Page S2743]]

  Mr. President, during today people will be watching and they will see 
a quorum call, nothing on the screen. Why? Because we are in the midst 
again of one of these never-ending Republican filibusters--hundreds of 
them. Hundreds of them. Let me remind everyone that Lyndon Johnson was 
majority leader for 6 years. During that period of time he had to 
overcome one filibuster. Mr. President, I have lost track; it is 
hundreds and hundreds of filibusters that we have had to overcome, and 
we have the Republicans coming here today saying: Well, all we want is 
a few amendments.
  They do everything they can to stop us from progressing on 
legislation that is good for this country. Anything that is good for 
Barack Obama they think is bad for the country, and for 5\1/2\ years 
they have opposed everything this good man has tried to do. It is a 
shame.
  So to anyone out there wondering what is going on, it is another of 
the hundreds of filibusters they have conducted.

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