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

WASHINGTON, D.C. -U.S. Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, following President Obama’s press conference, said today that the President’s absence from the global warming debate is not surprising. While the President did briefly call for passage of a global warming bill during his press conference today, he has remained “conspicuously absent” from using his “bully pulpit,” as Politico noted, to push for the Waxman-Markey bill.  Yet the House Democratic leaders desperately need strong, vocal support from the President in order to pass Waxman-Markey, a fact that demonstrates how tenuous support for the bill really is.  

“With the House set to consider a costly global warming cap-and-trade tax this Friday, the big question is whether or not President Obama will engage in the current debate,” Senator Inhofe said. “With no public events of late to showcase this bill, and then giving the bill an endorsement at a White House press conference just days before the vote, it’s clear the President wants to keep a low-profile.   It’s not hard to understand why: Waxman-Markey is massive energy tax on American families that will destroy millions of jobs and make America’s businesses and entrepreneurs less competitive in the global marketplace.”

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