CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcripts

Interview

CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript

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BLITZER: And joining us now, Democratic Congressman Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Republican Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma.

Congressman Markey is in Copenhagen right now. Senator Inhofe is just back from Copenhagen.

Did you get anything accomplished from your perspective while you were there, Senator?

SEN. JAMES INHOFE (R), OKLAHOMA: Well, first of all, I got a pretty good idea of what's going on. They're in the middle of kind of a group therapy right now.

Everyone there is hysterical, they're concerned that nothing is coming together. And my message was, Wolf, that the last time I was there was '03. That was Milan, Italy. And I read from my speech at that time, nothing had happened. And that's essentially what's -- nothing is happening now.

We have the countries, the developing nations, all thinking that they're going to come down and get a whole lot of money from the developed nations. That hasn't happened.

There's been a commitment by the president and by Hillary that, somehow, we'll come up with $100 billion a year from the developed countries, and I don't believe that's going to happen. And by the way, they're estimating a third of that would be from the United States, $30 billion a year. That's not going to happen.

BLITZER: All right. Let's bring in Congressman Markey.

Anything happening over there, Congressman?

REP. ED MARKEY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Well, the president, in his address, made a very powerful statement about the need for transparency. And that becomes the last remaining major obstacle to reaching an agreement. And I do believe that his speech riveted this entire conference, and the Chinese and the United States are now trying to find a way of resolving that issue, but it has to be one that does guarantee transparency for the commitments that the Chinese are making.

BLITZER: Here's a clip of what the president said in Copenhagen. I want both of you to listen to this, and then we'll discuss.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: America is going to continue on this course of action to mitigate our missions and to move towards a clean energy economy no matter what happens here in Copenhagen. We think it is good for us, as well as good for the world. But we also believe that we will all be stronger, all be safer, all be more security if we act together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right. The House of Representatives has a lopsided Democratic majority. It's already passed the House, the energy bill, the cap and trade legislation, as it's called.

Senator, do you and your fellow Republicans, backed by some Democrats, have the ability to block this legislation in the Senate?

INHOFE: Well, first of all, Wolf, you have to say not just Republicans, because at most there might be 25 votes. They need 60 votes to do it. And I have to say this, and I hate to say it in front of Ed Markey, but those bills are dead. They're not going to pass.

And I think people over there are in denial, they just don't want to admit it. But every time we have this legislation up, it is defeated by a larger and larger majority.

And only this morning, in "The Washington Post," they said only a third of Americans believe that scientists even agree that global warming is an issue and not even talking about whether it's caused by man or not. So I think that this issue, I know you can't believe that over there, because everyone's in the middle of this group therapy, but they are losing this issue. It is not going to pass the United States Senate.

BLITZER: All right. Congressman Markey, is what Senator Inhofe said true, that of this $100 billion that the developed nations are pledging to help the developing, the poor nations, that a third or so of that money will come from U.S. taxpayers between now and 2020?

MARKEY: Secretary of State Clinton said that the United States would pay its fair share. That has yet to be determined, but the key here is that we can no longer go on a course where we import $1 billion worth of oil every day from overseas, 365 days a year, $144-a- barrel oil.

That's the real tax on the Americans. We have to break our dependence upon ExxonMobil and Saudi Arabia.

And what Senator Inhofe is recommending is that we just continue business as usual with our relationship with oil. And if we do that, then we will have this constantly recurring cycle of recessions based upon this importation of oil that wreaks havoc with our economy. And by the way, when Senator Lindsey Graham, Joe Lieberman, Susan Collins, and others all say they're going to work constructively on passage of a bill, the same prediction Jim Inhofe made about passage of a House bill, where he was wrong, will be true about a bill in the Senate.

INHOFE: Hey, Wolf, you can't leave it like that on the oil. We, right now, in the United States have the most developable resources of any nation in oil gas, 167 billion barrels that we could be developing, but the Democrats won't let us do it. That's equal to 25 years of importation from the Middle East. If we want to be self- sufficient, let's start developing our own resources, and that can be done virtually overnight.

BLITZER: You want to respond to that, Congressman?

MARKEY: I'll be glad to respond to it. Jim is absolutely correct.

If people are willing to pay $5 or $6 a gallon in gasoline, we can go to the most remote parts of the United States and use the most dirty and polluting ways of generating oil. But a smart way to go would be to move to wind and solar and geothermal and biomass, and a smart grid and all electric vehicles, so that we back that oil out from OPEC and don't substitute for it a continued addiction to $5 to $6 a gallon gasoline. And that's the recipe that Jim has us following and has had us following for the last generation.

BLITZER: All right.

INHOFE: Hey, Wolf...

BLITZER: Very quickly.

INHOFE: They always -- the liberals always talk about all this energy. Sure, maybe 20 or 30 years from now that will be a reality. In the meantime, we have got to run this machine called America. We have the resources to do it, and we need to do it.

BLITZER: We'll leave it on that note.

Gentlemen...

MARKEY: We have three percent of the world's oil reserves.

INHOFE: That's not true, not true at all. We are the largest reserves in the world -- 167 billion barrels is what we have.

MARKEY: Absolutely untrue. Could not be more untrue.

INHOFE: Absolutely true.

BLITZER: We'll continue this discussion on another occasion. Good to have Senator Inhofe back from Copenhagen.

Congressman Markey, have a safe trip back.

MARKEY: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: We'll stay in close touch with both of you. We're going to fact-check that last point to see which one of you is telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Guys, thanks very much.

MARKEY: I look forward to it.

INHOFE: Thank you, Wolf.

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