[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 9071-9072]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         SECRETARY OF COMMERCE

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come today to visit on the floor of 
the Senate because since last November the President has been trying to 
convince the American people that he has a plan to restart our economy. 
He was in North Carolina yesterday with his council to talk about 
issues. To me, the President's approach has left a lot to be desired. 
If the White House created as many jobs as it creates speeches, things 
would be a lot better. The President's empty words are not filling the 
pockets of American citizens.
  The President has been given a new chance to show his commitment to 
economic growth, and that is the chance he has recently had to nominate 
a Secretary of Commerce for the United States.
  When I think about the Commerce Department, it is a department with a 
job, in terms of American businesses, to make those businesses more 
innovative at home and more competitive overseas. Well, the mission of 
the Commerce Department states that it ``promotes job creation, 
economic growth, sustainable development and improved standards of 
living for all Americans.'' So at a time of economic crisis such as the 
one we have now, a nominee who can fulfill that mission, that very 
mission--of promoting job creation, economic growth, sustainable 
development, and improved standards of living for all Americans, that 
very mission--is needed more than ever.
  Despite the administration's promise that their so-called stimulus 
bill would keep unemployment rates below 8 percent, we know 
unemployment went to 10 percent. It is still over 9 percent, and our 
job growth last month was the slowest it has been in almost a year. 
Over 13 million Americans are still out of work, and nearly half of 
them have been unemployed for 6 months or more. This is the highest 
rate of chronic unemployment we have had since the Great Depression.
  These problems aren't just happening at home. America's position on 
the international stage is slipping as well. America's ability to pay 
its debts has already been called into question by Standard & Poor's 
credit ratings. Moody's is asking the same questions. Recently, Fitch 
credit ratings also warned us that the United States was playing with 
fire. Gas prices are very high. I hear it every weekend at home in 
Wyoming. Families are spending $800 on average more for gasoline this 
year than last year. We spend $48 million more on goods from other 
countries than we do on our own goods, and our economic situation is 
already bad.
  The headlines sound worse every day. Let me give a couple of 
examples. From Gallup: ``U.S. Investor Optimism Declines.''
  From Reuters: ``Wall Street ends down as jobs data disappoints.''
  From Bloomberg: ``Economic Recovery Is Languishing as Americans Await 
Signal of Better Times.''
  Even the Chairman of the Federal Reserve said the job market was 
``far from normal.''
  The facts are clear. Americans deserve the best leadership in the 
Commerce Department--the Department that is responsible for trade, job 
creation, and economic growth.
  Last week, the President nominated John Bryson to be his new Commerce 
Secretary. Many may ask, who is this man? Is he a job promoter, someone 
who can bring economic growth and improve the standard of living for 
all Americans? Well, John Bryson's record clearly shows he is not such 
a nominee. In fact, his resume is exhibit No. 1 in proving that this 
administration is not serious about job growth. At best, it is unclear 
why John Bryson is the President's nominee for this position. At worst, 
his nomination is proof the President wants environmental activists 
running our economic development strategy.
  When announcing Mr. Bryson's nomination, the President praised Mr. 
Bryson's background. According to the President, Mr. Bryson would be a 
good Commerce Secretary because ``he's been a fierce proponent of 
alternative energy.'' Well, if Mr. Bryson was being nominated to be 
Energy Secretary or the Administrator of the Environmental Protection 
Agency or even Interior Secretary, that fact might be relevant. But Mr. 
Bryson is being nominated to be Secretary of Commerce.
  Mr. Bryson does have a background in the private sector. The problem 
is,

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his private sector success has more to do with government help than 
with his own ability to create jobs or grow the economy.
  Don't take my word for it. The Wall Street Journal already has 
written that Mr. Bryson believes ``wholeheartedly in a strategy of 
politicized investment.'' They also wrote that the companies he has 
been associated with have generated revenue through handouts from the 
Federal Government rather than by being profitable.
  We need a Commerce Secretary who knows how businesses turn a profit 
and how to create private sector jobs. We need a Commerce Secretary who 
will make it easier and cheaper for the private sector to create jobs, 
not someone who will make it harder and more expensive for the private 
sector to create jobs. We need a Commerce Secretary who can understand 
all sectors of the economy rather than someone who picks winners and 
losers.
  Already, to me, Mr. Bryson fails the test. His support for 
politicizing U.S. investments is the least problematic element of his 
resume. Along with his private sector experience, he is also the 
founder of a group called the Natural Resources Defense Council, or the 
NRDC. This organization is so radically antibusiness that even 
Massachusetts Democrat Congressmen Barney Frank and John Tierney think 
it is troubling that Mr. Bryson is associated with it.
  These Members of Congress have described the NRDC as ``one of those 
environmental organizations that has reflexively attacked the fishing 
industry inaccurately and without any real environmental basis.''
  It is not just the fishing industry the NRDC reflexively attacks. 
Members of the NRDC staff are on record saying: ``There is no such 
thing as clean coal.''
  But while gas prices soar and energy jobs are needed, a spokesman for 
the NRDC has said:

       NRDC has been very active and proud to be active in 
     fighting new coal plant proposals in the United States.

  They have also stood in the way of lifesaving sonar technology that 
would enhance America's national security. Why? Well, out of fear that 
it might harm the whales.
  They have also filed thousands of lawsuits to stop the production of 
American energy, and American energy is critical and a part of our 
American national security. This anti-energy agenda is so reflexive 
that the NRDC has even filed lawsuits to further delay future energy 
exploration in the Gulf of Mexico. Well, the delay has already 
stretched on so long that even former President Bill Clinton has called 
it ``ridiculous.''
  John Bryson's career has consistently shown that he agrees with this 
overzealous approach to environmental policy. When Mr. Bryson first 
started at Edison Electric, the Los Angeles Times said he had founded 
``one of the Nation's most aggressive environmental organizations.''
  When it comes to being antibusiness, an unpopular policy such as cap 
and trade is one area where he is focused. He is one of its most 
aggressive supporters, and the record shows it. More importantly, his 
own words show it. Most Americans recognize cap and trade as a job-
killing energy tax. That is why the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill 
couldn't pass the Senate. However, when referring to this very bill, 
John Bryson called it ``moderate but acceptable.'' He called it a 
moderate but acceptable piece of legislation. He even said the 
legislation was good precisely because it was a good way to hide a 
carbon tax--to hide a tax.
  Mr. Bryson has repeatedly called for a national cap-and-trade system, 
and he has even put his money where his mouth is. But when someone says 
``a good way to hide a tax,'' is that what the role of the Secretary of 
Commerce is, to hide a tax on American businesses to make them less 
competitive, to make it more expensive to do business? I think not.
  According to the Daily Caller, Mr. Bryson's own company spent over $1 
million lobbying for cap and trade.
  So John Bryson believes in politicizing American investment. He has 
founded a radical environmental organization and has spent significant 
amounts of money lobbying for a policy that he openly acknowledges is a 
cover for a job-killing energy tax.
  We need a Commerce Secretary. We need a Commerce Secretary who will 
work at making American businesses more innovative at home and more 
competitive abroad. We do not need a Commerce Secretary who is more 
interested in taking our hard-earned dollars than in creating jobs at 
home. The American people deserve a Commerce Secretary who is more 
interested in free trade than in cap and trade.
  The President may believe John Bryson is the right man at the right 
time. I believe John Bryson is the wrong man at the worst possible 
time.
  Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.

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