Reid: 'It's Not Often That I Agree with What the Koch Brothers Say...'

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has spent a lot of floor time in recent weeks — and press conference time, and probably private time as well — decrying the Koch brothers.

In a floor speech last week, though, Reid mixed a bit of “agreement” with the Koch brothers with his regularly scheduled criticism of the billionaires.

“It is not often that I agree with what the Koch brothers say. Their radical agenda is normally so far out of the mainstream  that it makes opposition to their agenda easy. So imagine my surprise when I read the following quote from a Koch spokesperson in a Kansas newspaper article last week. Here is what the Koch brothers said: ‘We are not experts on climate change. We do believe there should be free and open debate on the climate issue and it should be based on sound science and intellectual honesty. The debate should take place among the scientific community, examining all points of view and void of politics, personal attacks and partisan agendas,'” Reid said.

“I’m in agreement with most of their statement. I agree that the Koch brothers, Koch Industries, and their myriad political organizations  are not experts on climate change. I also agree that the debate on climate change should be based on sound science. In fact, the sound science that has long been debated, and has reached the clear, unambiguous conclusion that climate change is very real. Of course David and Charles know the debate on climate change has already taken place within the science community – and that debate was free and open. The over-whelming evidence proves that pollution is causing climate change. But the Koch brothers don’t have to take my word for it,” he continued, citing the White House’s recent climate report predicting “disastrous” global warming.

Reid went on to accuse the Koch brothers of harming the environment through their oil production and political donations.

“The Koch brothers’ admit that they and their radical followers don’t accept the science of climate change. The president of the Koch brothers’ organization is actually bragging about Republicans’ denial of evidence-based climate change. The Kochs know that scientists across the globe aren’t working to mislead the world about climate change,” he said.

“…How unfortunate for the world that the Koch brothers trash this beautiful planet and jeopardize our children’s health and future, just to add more zeroes to their huge bank balance. Bloomberg now estimates that the Kochs’ combined wealth exceeds $100 billion. How much money is enough for these two men?”