Jim Inhofe

James Mountain "Jim" Inhofe (born November 17, 1934) is a American politician from Oklahoma. A member of the Republican Party, he currently serves as the senior Senator from Oklahoma. He is among the most vocal critics of global warming in Congress.^[1] Inhofe often cites the Bible as the source for his positions on various political issues.^[2]

Early life

In his business career, Inhofe was a real estate developer and became president of the Quaker Life Insurance Company. That company went into receivership while he managed it; it was liquidated in 1986 during the Iran Contra affair, and despite a two year investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission into accounting irregularities connected with the failure, Inhofe was never charged with any criminal offenses, and has since denied any wrongdoing or personal relationship with Oliver North.^[5]

Political career

House career

In 1986, when Jones retired, Inhofe made another bid for Congress from the 1st congressional district This time, he won and he continued to serve in Congress from 1987 until 1994, being handily re-elected every two years in what rapidly became a strongly Republican district. He first came to national attention in 1993, when he led the effort to reform the House's Discharge petition rule, which the House leadership had long used to bottle up bills in committee.

Senate career

In 1994, Boren, who had been serving in the Senate since 1979, agreed to become president of the University of Oklahoma and announced he would resign as soon as a successor was elected. Inhofe won the Republican nomination for the November special election and was swept to victory amid a strong Republican tide that saw the Republicans take both houses of Congress and elected the state's second-ever Republican governor. He took office on November 17, his 60th birthday, giving him a bit more Senatorial seniority than the incoming class of senators. After serving the last two years of Boren's term, he won the seat in his own right in 1996 and was re-elected in 2002.

Committee membership

Political views

Inhofe is one of the most conservative members of either house of Congress (the eighth-most conservative Senator, according to the March 2007 National Journal rankings of Liberal/Conservative members of Congress^[6]).

As a member of the Armed Services Committee, he was among the panelists questioning witnesses about the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse. There he made news by claiming he was "outraged by the outrage" over the revelations of abuse, suggesting that shock at the crimes was more offensive than the crimes themselves.^{citation needed} He has also criticized the Red Cross as a "bleeding heart".^{citation needed} In 2006, Inhofe was one of only nine senators to vote against the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 banning torture on individuals in U.S. Government custody^[7]^[8].

Environmental record

Inhofe, former chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, is a strong critic of the scientific consensus that climate change is occurring as a result of human activities. In a July 28, 2003, Senate speech, Inhofe claimed to offer "compelling evidence that catastrophic global warming is a hoax. That conclusion is supported by the painstaking work of the nation's top climate scientists."^[9] He cited as support for this the 1992 Heidelberg Appeal and the Oregon Petition (1999), as well the opinions of individual scientists that he named (although most climate scientists, as represented by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), now believe that climate change is an existing phenomenon). In his speech, Inhofe also claimed that, "satellite data, confirmed by NOAA balloon measurements, confirms that no meaningful warming has occurred over the last century."^[10] However the satellite temperature record corroborates the well-documented warming trend noted in surface temperature measurements.^[11] Additionally, the satellite record begins in 1979 and the balloon record effectively in 1958, so it is unclear what Inhofe means by "last century". Inhofe's views have been opposed by climate scientists.^[12]

In a 2006 interview with the Tulsa World newspaper, Inhofe said regarding the environmentalist movement, "It kind of reminds... I could use the Third Reich, the Big Lie... You say something over and over and over and over again, and people will believe it, and that's their [the environmentalists'] strategy... A hot summer has nothing to do with global warming. Let's keep in mind it was just three weeks ago that people were saying, 'Wait a minute; it is unusually cool...." He then said, "Everything on which they [the environmentalists] based their story, in terms of the facts, has been refuted scientifically."^[13] Inhofe had previously compared the United States Environmental Protection Agency to the Gestapo^[14] and he compared EPA Administrator Carol Browner to Tokyo Rose.^[15] He had also made allegations that the Weather Channel is behind the alleged global warming hoax, so as to attract viewers.^[16]^[17] Inhofe had previously claimed that Global Warming is "the second-largest hoax ever played on the American people, after the separation of church and state."^[18]

Inhofe, claiming uncertainties related to climate science and the adverse impact that mandatory emissions reductions would have on the U.S. economy, voted on June 22, 2005 to reject an amendment to an energy bill that would have forced reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases and created a mandatory emissions trading scheme. "Global warming is still considered to be a theory and has not come close to being sufficiently proven", he said.^{citation needed}

Inhofe has similarly criticized predictions of ozone depletion, particularly in relation to the Arctic.^[19]

In 2006, Inhofe gave a speech in the Senate in which he argued that the threat of global warming was exaggerated by "the media, Hollywood elites and our pop culture." Inhofe claimed that "From the late 1920s until the 1960s they [the media] warned of global warming. From the 1950s until the 1970s they warned us again of a coming ice age. This makes modern global warming the fourth estate's fourth attempt to promote opposing climate change fears during the last 100 years." He also accused the media of ignoring scientists such as Roger A. Pielke and William Gray who, Inhofe claims, disagree with global warming.^[20]

Only Texas senator John Cornyn received more campaign donations from the oil and gas industry than Inhofe in the 2002 election cycle.^[21] The contributions Inhofe has received from the energy and natural resource sector since taking office have exceeded one million dollars.^[22]

Inhofe added language to the Water Resources Development Act that authorized the Corps to enter into "innovative programs" involving "creative management strategies that optimize recreational activities" at underdeveloped Corps lakes in Oklahoma. The Corps then leased development rights at Skiatook Lake in Osage County to the Skiatook Economic Development Authority for 50 years at no cost. SEDA then subleased the property, again at zero cost, to StateSource LLC, owned by Inhofe's former campaign director Ronald Howell. Howell, a former executive with Koch Industries, is active in the Oklahoma Republican Party and conservative causes. ^[23] As of 2007, Howell's firm had invested over $8 million in developments at Lake Skiatook. ^[24]

In 2006, Inhofe introduced Senate Amendment 4682 with Kit Bond (R-MO). This bill would have released the Army Corps of Engineers from oversight by independent review committees; according to the nonpartisan League of Conservation Voters, analyses for Corps projects "have been manipulated to favor large-scale projects that harm the environment."^[25] During the 109th Congress, Inhofe voted to increase offshore oil drilling, to include provisions for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the House Budget Amendment, and to deny funding for both low-income energy assistance and environmental stewardship.^[25] As of 2006, the League of Conservation Voters has given Inhofe the lowest possible score on environmental issues.^[26]

Support for Israel

In a Senate speech (March 4, 2002) James M. Inhofe presented his position on the "seven reasons that Israel has the right to their land" ^[27]

1. Archeological evidence. Excerpt: "Every time there is a dig in Israel, it does nothing but support the fact that Israelis have had a presence there for 3,000 years"

2. Historic right. Inhofe's case includes the historic presence of Israel prior to the Roman Empire, and the promise given to the Jews by Britain in 1917 to provide a Jewish homeland.

3. Agricultural development. That Israel has been "able to bring more food out of a desert environment than any other country in the world."

4. Humanitarian Concerns. Inhofe argues that due to the extent of their persecution - he cites Russia - and their slaughter - during World War Two by the Nazis - the Jews are entitled to a homeland, and that this is not an unreasonable demand.

5. Strategic Ally of the United States. "They vote with us in the United Nations more than England, more than Canada, more than France, more than Germany -- more than any other country in the world."

6. Israel acts as an effective roadblock to terrorism. In this part of his speech, Inhofe refers to four wars which Israel has fought and won (as of the date of his speech, dated 2002): "The 1948 War of Independence, the 1956 Sinai campaign, the 1967 Six Day War, and the 1973 Yom Kippur War." And he states that "In all four cases, Israel was attacked. They were not the aggressor ... In regard to their effectiveness They are great warriors. They consider a level playing field being outnumbered 2-to-1."

He also states at this point that, "One of the reasons I believe the spiritual door was opened for an attack against the United States is that the policy of our government has been to ask the Israelis, and demand it with pressure, not to retaliate in a significant way against the terrorist strikes that have been launched against them."

7. Biblical references. Inhofe states, "I believe very strongly that we ought to support Israel, and that it has a right to the land, because God said so."

In a Senate speech, Inhofe said that America should base its Israel policy on the text of the Bible:

In March 2002, Inhofe also made a speech before the U.S. Senate that included the explicit suggestion that the 9/11 attacks were a form of divine retribution against the U.S. for failing to defend Israel. In his words: "One of the reasons I believe the spiritual door was opened for an attack against the United States of America is that the policy of our Government has been to ask the Israelis, and demand it with pressure, not to retaliate in a significant way against the terrorist strikes that have been launched against them."^[28]

Immigration

In the debate, Inhofe cited a 2005 Zogby Poll^[29] showing 84% of Americans support making English the official language of governmental operations, including 71% of Hispanics. He also noted that 27 states and 51 nations have made English their official language and that the Office of Management and Budget estimated that it costs taxpayers between $1–2 billion to provide language assistance under President Clinton’s Executive Order 13166 that created the entitlement to services provided in any language other than English.

Student Loans

Sen. Inhofe is one of a small minority of senators opposed to expanding access to students by lowering interest rates. According to the Claremore Daily Progress, Inhofe was one of 12 senators who voted against a 2007 bill to cut interest rates on student loans in half from 6.8% to 3.4%. The bill passed 79-12.^[30]

LGBT rights

Inhofe has generally been seen as hostile by LGBT advocacy groups. Inhofe is in favor of a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, against adding sexual orientation to the definition of hate crimes, and voted against prohibiting job discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.^[31]

On June 6, 2006, in a speech on the Senate floor about the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment, Inhofe said, pointing at a large photograph of his family:

GI Bill Reform

Inhofe, an initial supporter of Senator Jim Webb's "Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008," was the first member of Congress to withdraw support for the legislation.^[34] The act, also known as the "GI Bill of Rights," has been criticized by President George Bush and Presidential nominee John McCain because of its high cost and the possibility of negative retention effects, but has wide public support regardless. Sen. Inhofe's decision drew the ire of many veterans groups^[35] and he has not publicly stated why he withdrew support on the same day 100 student-veterans rallied on the steps of the Capitol for the bill's passage.^[36]

Electoral history

*Write-in and minor candidate notes: In 1996, Chris Nedbalek received 8,691 votes.

**David Boren resigned his seat in 1994 to head up the University of Oklahoma; Inhofe won the special election to fill the rest of his term.

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