President Bush this week called for global approach to climate change. He was correct to do so. It makes little sense for the United States to propose a unilateral approach to a global problem, which is why the Lieberman-Warner climate change bill makes little sense. The attempt in the Leiberman-Warner bill to address the global issue by adopting potentially harmful trade policy only makes matters worse. It is of the utmost importance to engage countries like China and India on climate change and move forward with them, instead of unilaterally imposing severe restrictions on our economy which will make it tougher for our companies to compete in the global marketplace.

The President also said that legislation which would harm our economy represents the wrong approach. I agree. Solutions to combat climate change should not be at the expense of our economic security. The EPA has estimated that the Lieberman-Warner bill could cost our economy up $983 million by 2030. I have introduced legislation that would create a Clean Energy Investment Bank which would actively reduce our emissions by encouraging investment into clean energy projects while creating jobs in these clean energy fields.

I hope that the Senate will incorporate the President’s principles into the debate on climate change, and that we will steer clear of an approach which will have little impact on reducing emissions at a big cost to our citizens.