[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 172 (Monday, November 30, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S8181]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         POWER PLAN REGULATIONS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, when President Obama tried to push a 
regressive anti-middle-class energy tax through a Democratic-controlled 
Congress, his own party said no. Undeterred, the President simply went 
around Congress to impose similarly regressive--and likely illegal--
power plan regulations anyway. He is currently trying to sell that 
power plan to world leaders in Paris, as proof of the American 
Government's commitment to his energy priorities. But with all due 
respect to the President as our Commander in Chief, governments 
currently engaged in this round of climate talks will want to know that 
there is more than just an executive branch in our system of 
government.
  More than half of the States have filed suit against the President's 
power plan. A bipartisan majority in both Chambers of Congress have 
approved legislation that rejects the President's plan. The courts 
appear likely to strike it down, and the next President could simply 
tear it up. This is the easily foreseeable result of intentionally 
sidestepping Congress to impose this anti-middle-class power plan.
  If left in place, the power plan threatens to punish the poor and 
could result in the elimination of as many as a quarter of a million 
U.S. jobs. For what? The power plan won't even meaningfully affect 
global climate emissions, and it could actually increase emissions by 
offshoring American manufacturing to countries that lack our 
environmental standards.
  That is pain for the middle class, a climate rounding error for 
negotiators in Paris. That is not a good policy for America's working 
families. It certainly would not be responsible to attempt to negotiate 
commitments based upon an illegal power plan, one that may not even 
survive much longer, in any event.

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