Senator John Cornyn

June 4, 2008

Austin, TX – Later this week, hundreds of Texas Democrats will drive to Austin for their state convention, paying nearly $4 per gallon for gasoline in the process.  When State Representative Rick Noriega addresses the party faithful, he should answer one simple question – why is he supporting a federal bill that could more than double that price?
           
In a revealing moment, the Noriega campaign yesterday endorsed the Boxer climate tax bill now pending in the U.S. Senate.  This radical legislation would cost $6.7 trillion, subvert the U.S. and Texas economies, and amount to a government takeover of our energy and manufacturing sectors.
           
According to analysis from the Congressional Budget Office, the National Association of Manufacturers and other sources, the Boxer bill would have a particularly devastating effect on Texas.  The Boxer bill could increase gasoline prices by 147 percent from current levels – bringing them close to $10 per gallon.  It could increase already-high electricity prices by 145 percent.  It could cause a $52.2 billion loss to the Texas economy, prompt tens of thousands of Texans to lose their jobs, and impose $8,015 in new annual expenses on the average Texas household.
           
“Moderate Democrats are backing away rapidly from this bill,” noted Cornyn campaign spokesman Kevin McLaughlin.  “It’s highly revealing that Rep. Noriega is going the opposite direction -- throwing in with the most extreme liberal Democrats in the Senate, such as Boxer, Kerry and Durbin.  It’s a strange position for someone who wants to represent Texas.”
           
At issue is S. 3036, labeled America’s Climate Security Act of 2008.   The bill would allow the EPA to set up cap-and-trade emission programs, granting some emission allowances to companies and auctioning others.  The proceeds of these expensive auctions – trillions of dollars – would be doled out to favored groups. 
           
Backers say this legislation would create thousands of “green collar” jobs for workers complying with the cap-and-trade system.  But other countries, particularly fast-developing third-world nations, would not be subject to the restrictions.  In Senate floor remarks yesterday, Sen. Cornyn agreed the legislation would create many jobs:  “Unfortunately, they would all be in India and China.  That’s where most production would go if this bill is approved.”  Economists say the Boxer bill would cause the loss of 334,600 jobs in Texas alone.
           
In endorsing the Boxer bill yesterday, the Noriega campaign claimed it “will boost the economy by providing immediate tax relief to consumers struggling with high gas prices.”  This statement is laughable in its naivete.   The so-called “tax relief” in the bill is a non-binding Sense of the Senate alleging that some funds “should be” used to protect consumers from coming “increases in energy and other costs.”
           
In other words, advocates of the Boxer Climate Tax are admitting their legislation will increase gasoline and other energy costs.  But they claim they intend to provide “offsets” from Washington to those groups selected for subsidies or tax relief.  Is there anyone in Texas who trusts Congress to be fair to our state in picking these winners and losers?
           
Rep. Noriega has put out several vague releases complaining about high energy costs.  Yet he offers no real solutions other than a reference to the need to develop alternative energy sources, such as wind power – a move that is already well underway.  Noriega, who has received a regular pay check from an energy company, has no legislative record of doing anything constructive to relieve soaring energy prices.  Importantly, he now has no new proposals to offer.

Sen. Cornyn has co-sponsored numerous measures to provide for energy security, in part by increasing supply of energy across the board, from traditional sources to alternative and nuclear.  He backs exploration in additional U.S. territory, to reduce our reliance on foreign sources.  While over the long term, the global economy will phase into one that relies on alternative sources of energy, this process will take decades making domestic exploration a necessity to sustain our economy.  Additionally, the exploration would create tens of thousands of real jobs throughout Texas, particularly in the Houston and West Texas oil services sector.

“Noriega’s backing of a far-left Democratic radical environmental plan is out of touch with Texas,” McLaughlin noted.  “But it is consistent with his endorsement of other ultra-liberal policies that would harm our state, in the state legislature and on the campaign trail.”  Noriega has endorsed measures ending secret ballots in union organizing elections, supporting partial-birth abortion and gay marriage, and providing for public financing of elections, among other positions.