Quote of the Day: Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) on Waxman-Markey

Rory Cooper / July 16, 2009

Senator Byron Dorgan speaking on the floor of the Senate on why he can’t support any legislation that looks like the Waxman-Markey Global Warming bill:

My preference would be that we not take up the Waxman-Markey bill, as such. I know a lot of work has gone into that legislation, but my preference would be that we start in a different direction. I do not have a problem with capping carbon…I’m for a low-carbon future, but in my judgment, those who would bring to the floor of the United States Senate a replication of what has been done in the House with over 400 pages describing the ‘cap-and-trade’ piece of capping carbon, will find very little favor from me and I would suspect from some others as well. There are better and other more direct ways do this to protect our planet. But, I’ve been to the floor many, many, many times talking about what has happened with credit default swaps, what’s happened with CDO’s, what happened with the oil futures market, on and on and on. If what has happened gives anybody confidence, then they’re in a deep sleep and just don’t understand it.