WASHINGTON –Today, Ranking Member Frank Lucas issued the following statement after he rejected the Waxman-Markey climate change bill (H.R. 2454).  The U.S. House of Representatives passed the measure 219-212.

“This vote, this bill is a disgrace to the American people and to the American form of government. Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Chairman Henry Waxman pushed this bill through the House without any respect for our constituents, without any respect for the consequences of their actions, and without any respect for the legislative process.

More than 120 agriculture and food groups wrote Members of Congress asking them to vote no on this bill.  And, the Democratic Majority in the House just ignored them.  Rural America and its constituents may mean nothing to Nancy Pelosi and Henry Waxman, who live in San Francisco and Hollywood, respectively, but as Ranking Member of the Agriculture Committee, those folks in the countryside mean a great deal to me.  I am one of them—a farmer from Oklahoma. 

The Democratic Majority jammed a bill through the House that will cause higher energy costs, higher food prices, lost jobs, and lost opportunities.  Now, those of us who are charged with working for and protecting our constituents in rural America must work even harder to make sure this bill does not become law,” said Ranking Member Frank Lucas.

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