Volume 157, No. 85 covering the 1st Session of the 112th Congress (2011 - 2012) was published by the Congressional Record.
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“SECRETARY OF COMMERCE” mentioning the Environmental Protection Agency was published in the Senate section on pages S3761-S3763 on June 14, 2011.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
SECRETARY OF COMMERCE
Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come today to visit on the floor of the Senate because since last November the President has been trying to convince the American people that he has a plan to restart our economy. He was in North Carolina yesterday with his council to talk about issues. To me, the President's approach has left a lot to be desired. If the White House created as many jobs as it creates speeches, things would be a lot better. The President's empty words are not filling the pockets of American citizens.
The President has been given a new chance to show his commitment to economic growth, and that is the chance he has recently had to nominate a Secretary of Commerce for the United States.
When I think about the Commerce Department, it is a department with a job, in terms of American businesses, to make those businesses more innovative at home and more competitive overseas. Well, the mission of the Commerce Department states that it ``promotes job creation, economic growth, sustainable development and improved standards of living for all Americans.'' So at a time of economic crisis such as the one we have now, a nominee who can fulfill that mission, that very mission--of promoting job creation, economic growth, sustainable development, and improved standards of living for all Americans, that very mission--is needed more than ever.
Despite the administration's promise that their so-called stimulus bill would keep unemployment rates below 8 percent, we know unemployment went to 10 percent. It is still over 9 percent, and our job growth last month was the slowest it has been in almost a year. Over 13 million Americans are still out of work, and nearly half of them have been unemployed for 6 months or more. This is the highest rate of chronic unemployment we have had since the Great Depression.
These problems aren't just happening at home. America's position on the international stage is slipping as well. America's ability to pay its debts has already been called into question by Standard & Poor's credit ratings. Moody's is asking the same questions. Recently, Fitch credit ratings also warned us that the United States was playing with fire. Gas prices are very high. I hear it every weekend at home in Wyoming. Families are spending $800 on average more for gasoline this year than last year. We spend $48 million more on goods from other countries than we do on our own goods, and our economic situation is already bad.
The headlines sound worse every day. Let me give a couple of examples. From Gallup: ``U.S. Investor Optimism Declines.''
From Reuters: ``Wall Street ends down as jobs data disappoints.''
From Bloomberg: ``Economic Recovery Is Languishing as Americans Await Signal of Better Times.''
Even the Chairman of the Federal Reserve said the job market was
``far from normal.''
The facts are clear. Americans deserve the best leadership in the Commerce Department--the Department that is responsible for trade, job creation, and economic growth.
Last week, the President nominated John Bryson to be his new Commerce Secretary. Many may ask, who is this man? Is he a job promoter, someone who can bring economic growth and improve the standard of living for all Americans? Well, John Bryson's record clearly shows he is not such a nominee. In fact, his resume is exhibit No. 1 in proving that this administration is not serious about job growth. At best, it is unclear why John Bryson is the President's nominee for this position. At worst, his nomination is proof the President wants environmental activists running our economic development strategy.
When announcing Mr. Bryson's nomination, the President praised Mr. Bryson's background. According to the President, Mr. Bryson would be a good Commerce Secretary because ``he's been a fierce proponent of alternative energy.'' Well, if Mr. Bryson was being nominated to be Energy Secretary or the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency or even Interior Secretary, that fact might be relevant. But Mr. Bryson is being nominated to be Secretary of Commerce.
Mr. Bryson does have a background in the private sector. The problem is, his private sector success has more to do with government help than with his own ability to create jobs or grow the economy.
Don't take my word for it. The Wall Street Journal already has written that Mr. Bryson believes ``wholeheartedly in a strategy of politicized investment.'' They also wrote that the companies he has been associated with have generated revenue through handouts from the Federal Government rather than by being profitable.
We need a Commerce Secretary who knows how businesses turn a profit and how to create private sector jobs. We need a Commerce Secretary who will make it easier and cheaper for the private sector to create jobs, not someone who will make it harder and more expensive for the private sector to create jobs. We need a Commerce Secretary who can understand all sectors of the economy rather than someone who picks winners and losers.
Already, to me, Mr. Bryson fails the test. His support for politicizing U.S. investments is the least problematic element of his resume. Along with his private sector experience, he is also the founder of a group called the Natural Resources Defense Council, or the NRDC. This organization is so radically antibusiness that even Massachusetts Democrat Congressmen Barney Frank and John Tierney think it is troubling that Mr. Bryson is associated with it.
These Members of Congress have described the NRDC as ``one of those environmental organizations that has reflexively attacked the fishing industry inaccurately and without any real environmental basis.''
It is not just the fishing industry the NRDC reflexively attacks. Members of the NRDC staff are on record saying: ``There is no such thing as clean coal.''
But while gas prices soar and energy jobs are needed, a spokesman for the NRDC has said:
NRDC has been very active and proud to be active in fighting new coal plant proposals in the United States.
They have also stood in the way of lifesaving sonar technology that would enhance America's national security. Why? Well, out of fear that it might harm the whales.
They have also filed thousands of lawsuits to stop the production of American energy, and American energy is critical and a part of our American national security. This anti-energy agenda is so reflexive that the NRDC has even filed lawsuits to further delay future energy exploration in the Gulf of Mexico. Well, the delay has already stretched on so long that even former President Bill Clinton has called it ``ridiculous.''
John Bryson's career has consistently shown that he agrees with this overzealous approach to environmental policy. When Mr. Bryson first started at Edison Electric, the Los Angeles Times said he had founded
``one of the Nation's most aggressive environmental organizations.''
When it comes to being antibusiness, an unpopular policy such as cap and trade is one area where he is focused. He is one of its most aggressive supporters, and the record shows it. More importantly, his own words show it. Most Americans recognize cap and trade as a job-
killing energy tax. That is why the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill couldn't pass the Senate. However, when referring to this very bill, John Bryson called it ``moderate but acceptable.'' He called it a moderate but acceptable piece of legislation. He even said the legislation was good precisely because it was a good way to hide a carbon tax--to hide a tax.
Mr. Bryson has repeatedly called for a national cap-and-trade system, and he has even put his money where his mouth is. But when someone says
``a good way to hide a tax,'' is that what the role of the Secretary of Commerce is, to hide a tax on American businesses to make them less competitive, to make it more expensive to do business? I think not.
According to the Daily Caller, Mr. Bryson's own company spent over $1 million lobbying for cap and trade.
So John Bryson believes in politicizing American investment. He has founded a radical environmental organization and has spent significant amounts of money lobbying for a policy that he openly acknowledges is a cover for a job-killing energy tax.
We need a Commerce Secretary. We need a Commerce Secretary who will work at making American businesses more innovative at home and more competitive abroad. We do not need a Commerce Secretary who is more interested in taking our hard-earned dollars than in creating jobs at home. The American people deserve a Commerce Secretary who is more interested in free trade than in cap and trade.
The President may believe John Bryson is the right man at the right time. I believe John Bryson is the wrong man at the worst possible time.
Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
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