Published: November 09, 2009 12:35 pm      

Inhofe: Healthcare bill not going anywhere

Ada — Although the healthcare bill made it through the House of Representatives on Saturday, United States Senator Jim Inhofe said it would face a harder road in the Senate.

“We will kill it in the Senate,” Inhofe said. “I think the main thing I want to get across is it doesn’t really matter because it (the healthcare bill) is not going anywhere.”

Inhofe said he is still fighting a cap-and-trade bill.

“The far left is trying so hard to get a cap-and-trade now,” Inhofe said. Inhofe said the Committee on Environment and Public Works passed the John Kerry—Barbara Boxer global warming bill without any Republican votes.

“We set up the rules of the Environment and Public Works Committee way back in 1970—a long time ago. The rules say that you can’t report a bill out of the committee to go to the floor of the Senate unless there are two members of the minority there,” Inhofe said. “What we did was I told all of the Republicans not to go so they couldn’t have an official mark-up.”

Inhofe said the Kerry—Boxer bill will carry a high cost.

“The cost range of a cap-and-trade is always between $300 and $400 billion a year,” Inhofe said. “In the state of Oklahoma, it would increase our taxes by $3,000 a year for each family that files a return.”

Inhofe said he still intends to attend the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Conference.

“I’m always the spoiler at this thing. Last night I was on the Larry Kudlow show. He said, ‘Inhofe is the one-man truth squad going to Copenhagen.’ So when Barbara Boxer, John Kerry and all the left get up there and say, ‘Yes. We’re going to pass a global warming bill,’ I will be able to stand up and say, ‘No, it’s over. Get a life. You lost. I won,’” Inhofe said.

Inhofe said he has secured many funds for Ada, including $440,000 for a water tower for the city, $500,000 for the Ada Public Works Authority to treat Ada’s wastewater/sewer system, $250,000 for the Wintersmith Dam along with other funds for the city.