[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Page 13471]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, in just a few minutes, President Obama 
will deliver another blow to the economy and to the middle class. He 
will unveil regressive regulations that are set to harm struggling 
workers and families. They are projected to cost literally billions. 
They threaten to ship good middle-class jobs overseas and will likely 
make it harder to maintain reliable sources of energy to meet demand. 
They will also likely result in higher energy bills for those who can 
least afford them, potentially raising electricity rates by double 
digits for people I represent.
  All of this, and for what? Not only will these massive regulations 
fail to meaningfully affect the global climate, but they could actually 
end up harming the environment by outsourcing the energy production to 
countries with poorer environmental records like India and China.
  They may also be illegal. That is why I wrote the Governors earlier 
this year, suggesting they take a responsible wait-and-see approach and 
allow the courts to weigh in before subjecting their citizens to such 
unnecessary pain.
  The Supreme Court's rebuke to the White House in June on another 
environmental regulation underlines the wisdom of this approach. Even 
though that mercury regulation was ultimately tossed out, most of its 
damage had already been done. It reminded Governors that it would be 
reckless not to take a wait-and-see approach this time.
  Now, several Governors have already decided they will not allow the 
administration to rush them into adopting these regulations, and I 
expect more to follow. I was recently able to place language in the 
Senate Interior appropriations bill that would prohibit the 
administration from arbitrarily imposing its will on States that take 
this responsible approach.
  Senator Capito also has a bill that would prohibit the regulations 
from moving forward until the courts have ruled on their legality. 
These aren't the only legislative options Congress can consider. We can 
pursue other avenues like CRA resolutions and further appropriations 
riders as these regulations are published and as they wind their way 
through the courts.
  Here is the bottom line about today's announcement. If the Obama 
administration were actually serious about advancing renewable energy, 
then it would follow the example of what leaders like Senator Murkowski 
have been achieving in the Energy Committee. She is showing how we can 
make big strides on energy diversification and that we can do it in a 
bipartisan way and that we don't have to punish the middle class to do 
it.
  This White House seems to want good politics, not good policy. 
Officials in this administration have said they want to make 
electricity rates skyrocket, and they want to make examples out of 
people who get in the way. They are tired of having to work with the 
Congress the people elected. That is why the administration is now 
trying to impose these deeply regressive regulations--regulations that 
may be illegal, won't meaningfully impact the global environment, and 
will likely harm middle and lower class Americans the most--by 
executive fiat. It represents a triumph of blind ideology over sound 
policy and honest compassion.
  In Kentucky, these regulations would likely mean fewer jobs, 
shuttered powerplants, and higher electricity costs for families and 
businesses. I am not going to sit by while the White House takes aim at 
the lifeblood of our State's economy. I am going to keep doing 
everything I can to fight them.

                          ____________________