Jeb Bush 'Not Sure' He Would Have Attended Climate Summit If President
"I worry about the economic impact for our country,” he said.
—WATERLOO, Iowa -- As world leaders descended on Paris to discuss climate change earlier this week, Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush disavowed the meeting.
"I’m not sure I would have gone to the climate summit, if I was president today,” he told reporters after his town hall meeting.
He was then asked if he was opposed to the agenda that the world leaders had set forth.
"I worry about the economic impact for our country,” he said. "I worry that, put aside intentions, these proposals could have an impact on the here and now that people are really struggling right now so, I would be uncertain on whether I would attend a meeting like that would seem like the movement is towards policies that would hurt our economy.”
President Barack Obama and over 150 world leaders are gathering at the U.N. Climate conference to discuss the fight against global warming. President Obama is pushing for a climate accord that includes legally binding promises to combat the effects that humans have wrought on the environment.
Earlier in his town hall, Bush was asked about climate change and if it was a scam. He said, as he often does, that he believes the climate is changing and has been so for a long time, but hit back on the idea that the whole scientific community is decided on the impact that humans have had.
"The idea that 99.9 percent of scientists believe that this is all decided is just not true. It’s true that 99 percent of scientists think the climate is changing, for sure, but that’s not a captain brilliant comment. That's a captain obvious statement,” he said.
He instead touted statistics, supported by EPA data, that the United States has seen a 10 percent reduction in carbon emissions.