[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 20157-20158]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




       PARIS CLIMATE CHANGE AGREEMENT AND SENATE ACCOMPLISHMENTS

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, over the weekend, countries meeting in 
Paris signed a broad new climate agreement. President Obama called the 
agreement a success. He said it was a ``strong agreement.''
  Despite the fanfare, let's keep some things in perspective. There are 
important parts of this agreement that can do a great deal of damage to 
American jobs and the American economy. That should be and is a big 
concern to the American people. Parts of the agreement can do damage to 
our jobs and our economy. At the same time, important parts are not 
binding on other countries. The American people are right to wonder if 
the White House has signed yet another terrible deal just to try to 
shore up the President's legacy.
  Earlier this year, President Obama was so anxious, so desperate to 
get a deal with Iran over its nuclear program that the President signed 
a terrible deal. Since then, the International Atomic Energy Agency 
said that Iran has ``seriously undermined'' the agency's ability to 
verify what Iran has done. Here we are again. It is another bad deal, 
and other countries that signed it are already ignoring it.
  India is the world's third largest emitter of carbon. The agreement 
was on Saturday. This agreement tied plans to meet their emissions 
targets to getting U.S. taxpayer dollars. Then on Monday--just 
yesterday--India said it has plans to double its coal output by 2020. 
Is that what President Obama calls, in his mind, a success?
  A Gallup poll came out yesterday that showed that the American 
people's biggest concern is not climate change; it is terrorism. Only 3 
percent of all Americans said that pollution or the environment was the 
most important problem facing America today.
  President Obama says climate change is our biggest threat. President 
Obama continues to put a priority on things that he expects to help his 
legacy, not on the issues the American public actually are concerned 
about. As elected representatives, we should not allow the President to 
buy a legacy for himself using American taxpayer dollars. I am willing 
to sit down with any Democrat who wants to work on a realistic, 
responsible, and achievable plan to make American energy as clean as we 
can, as fast as we can, without raising costs on American families. 
That should be our goal: coming together to find a real solution, real-
world solutions, things that work, not just signing a symbolic 
agreement that does not solve anything, something that may make the 
President feel good but doesn't actually do good.
  Democrats and Republicans in the Senate can do it. Just look at all 
we have accomplished this year working together. It has been a very 
productive year in the Senate. I am not the only one saying it. Last 
Wednesday, U.S. News & World Report said: ``There's reason for optimism 
on Capitol Hill ahead of a looming deadline to pass a trillion-dollar 
omnibus funding measure.'' The magazine asked: ``What is behind it?'' 
Well, they said: ``After years of partisan gridlock, Congress has 
seemingly regained its ability to get things done.''

[[Page 20158]]

  After years of partisan gridlock, Congress has seemingly regained its 
ability to get things done. The bipartisan policy committee said the 
same thing recently. They pointed out that the House and Senate have 
both made important progress this year. They said: ``Both chambers have 
reinvigorated a robust committee process.''
  Getting committees back to work is essential to getting Congress back 
to work, and that is what Republicans have done this year. So far this 
year, the total number of days worked is up from last year by almost an 
additional 3 weeks of work on the Senate floor. This is in comparison 
to when Harry Reid was in charge. We have been considering a lot more 
amendments this year as well. For all of last year, there were only 15 
up-and-down votes on amendments--15 for the entire year. So far this 
year, we have voted on over 200 amendments. These are amendments both 
by Democrats and Republicans. These are opportunities for individual 
Senators to stand up, offer their ideas, and be heard--ideas that they 
think will make America better, make legislation better, not just what 
the leader of the party wants, Senator Reid, who blocked so many 
amendments--not just what Senator Reid might think is best for the 
President, no; what the American people think is important.
  So when you look into the substance of what we have done, the news is 
even better for the American people. So far this year we passed major 
legislation that has been helping Americans all across the country. We 
passed an important law on Medicare to make much needed reforms and to 
reauthorize the Children's Health Insurance Program. We passed the 
first multiyear highway bill since 2005. We passed the longest 
reauthorization of the highway trust fund in almost a decade.
  These aren't just short-term patches for a few months or a year. That 
is what happened when the Democrats were in charge. These are long-term 
fixes that create the certainty and the stability our economy needs. 
This year the Senate passed the most significant education reform since 
2002. We passed an important human trafficking law. We passed a budget. 
Can you imagine that? There hasn't been a budget passed in both Houses 
of Congress since 2009. We passed one this year.
  As chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee, I can tell you that we 
have made a lot of progress this year on legislation to improve the 
lives of people across Indian Country. We passed a measure that will 
help make crucial and long overdue improvements on roads on tribal 
lands. Last week we passed legislation that helps give tribes more 
economic opportunities. It gives them more control over developing 
their natural resources.
  Republicans are eager to work with Democrats and to produce 
legislation the President will sign. We are proud of the 
accomplishments of this year. At the same time, we are not afraid to 
challenge President Obama's most misguided and dangerous policies. That 
is why the Senate passed legislation repealing ObamaCare to ease 
Americans' pain under this law. We passed a measure on the Keystone XL 
Pipeline to create jobs, energy security, and economic growth, and we 
put that bill on the President's desk to force him to finally make a 
decision.
  We challenged President Obama's job-crushing energy regulations by 
voting to block his power plan and his devastating rules on waters of 
the United States. I wish to point out, looking at a headline from 
yesterday's New York Times, that EPA broke the law with regard to 
pushing their water rule. The EPA broke the law, which is this issue of 
this whole waters of the United States. The EPA must be held 
accountable--accountable for breaking the law, accountable for misuse 
of government funds. We will hold this administration accountable.
  Of course we also oppose the President's nuclear deal with Iran. We 
have shown the American people we can get things done, and there is a 
viable alternative to the reckless policies coming out of the White 
House.
  Looking back on what we have been able to do this year, I think there 
is real reason for optimism. The Senate doesn't need to be the place of 
gridlock that it had become under Harry Reid. In 2016 the Senate will 
be taking more votes on important legislation and on amendments. There 
will be more debates, more consideration of ideas from both sides of 
the aisle. That is what the American people have sent us to do. That is 
what they expect from us. The American people have seen it is possible 
to govern and that not everything in Washington is broken. It takes 
leaders who are committed to getting things done and committed to 
looking out for the best interests of the American people.
  This is the end of the year, but it is not the end of this Congress. 
It is not the end of what the Senate can do to make the lives of the 
American people better. We have done a lot. There is still a lot of 
work to be done over the next month and the next year. We will continue 
to work to relieve the burden and the expense of excess government 
regulations, to reduce the power of unelected, unaccountable Washington 
bureaucrats, and to return to the States and to the people more of the 
control that belongs to them. The goal is to give people at home the 
power to make their own decisions about what is best for them, their 
communities, and their families.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Rounds). The Senator from New Mexico.

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