Contact:

Matt Dempsey Matt_Dempsey@epw.senate.gov (202) 224-9797

Katie Brown Katie_Brown@epw.senate.gov (202) 224-2160

Inhofe to Reid: Welcome Back to the Global Warming Debate

Washington, D.C. - Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, responded to Senator Harry Reid's statement today that due to the current heat, droughts, and other hot weather events, skeptics are "not just on the other side of the debate, they're on the other side of reality." Senator Reid (D-NV) follows Senator Bernard Sanders (I-VT) and Senator John Kerry (D-MA) who took to the Senate floor last week to argue that current weather events are linked to manmade global warming.

"Today I have the pleasure of welcoming my good friend, Senator Reid, back to the global warming debate," Senator Inhofe said. "Senator Reid said again today what they've been saying for years - that 'the time to act is now' - yet Senator Reid hasn't brought a cap-and-trade bill to the floor since 2008, and he's the one who said that cap-and-trade had been deleted from his dictionary.

"And when legislation was brought up last year to rein in the Obama EPA's greenhouse gas regulations, Senate leadership scrambled to have cover votes available for Democrats in a tough spot. Some Senators chose the cover vote and some chose the only solution - which was to stop EPA - but 64 Senators voted that day to rein in EPA's global warming regulations.

"Now it will be interesting to see if Senator Reid will embrace the James Hansen-backed 'carbon tax' designed to eliminate fossil fuels, which was recently introduced in the House, or will that term also be deleted from the Democrats' dictionary once they find out just how unpopular that idea is too?