Likely Republican presidential contender Carly Fiorina argued Monday that California’s environmental regulations are a useless drag on the economy.
Amid the Golden State’s struggle against a historic drought scientists say has been worsened by global warming, Fiorina spoke out against environmental regulations designed to prevent future climate change. “We’re disabling our own economy and not having any impact at all on climate change,” Fiorina told msnbc in an interview.
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California Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, ordered unprecedented water reductions in the state last week, signing an executive order mandating a 25% reduction of water usage statewide.
Fiorina, the former chief executive of Hewlett Packard, unsuccessfully ran for Senate in California as a Republican in 2010. Today, she is eyeing a 2016 bid for president, a decision she’ll announce “in a month or so,” she told msnbc.
Fiorina’s position on environmental regulations places her squarely in conservative territory, while avoiding the sticky situation Republicans like Sen. Ted Cruz have gotten into by denying the science of global warming altogether.
“Let’s say global warming or climate change has played a role in [the drought]. What all the scientists also tell us is that a single state, or single nation acting alone can make no difference acting alone. If we want to accept the science, we have to read the fine print,” Fiorina told msnbc. “California can be the most onerous regulatory regime in the world, which they are, and it won’t make a bit of difference in climate change.”
Fiorina – who spoke Monday evening in Washington about her views on foreign policy – said other countries won’t be following suit on regulating emissions and protecting the environment. “Do we really think the Chinese are going to follow our lead on this? No, because they’re focused on their own economic self interest,” she said.
Fiorina has never held elected office, but she is working to promote her connections and past meetings with foreign leaders like Russia’s Vladimir Putin and business prowess as foreign policy credentials. On Monday evening, she slammed the Iranian nuclear framework agreement struck last week by several world powers. “I’ve never negotiated a nuclear deal, but I’ve negotiated plenty of deals, big deals, and when you want a good deal you have to be willing to walk away from the table,” she said. RELATED: Carly Fiorina on chances she’ll run in 2016: higher than 90% “It was a huge error for the president of the United States to declare victory in a Rose Garden ceremony when only a framework agreement has been decided, because what that signals is this president is now committed publicly to getting this deal done,” she said. “What my prediction is the Iranians will do on the other side is spend the next two months trying to get a better deal. That’s what happens in negotiations.” Fiorina also weighed in on immigration policy, saying she supported legislation that would allow a pathway to citizenship for young undocumented immigrants – who were brought here into this country illegally by their parents, commonly referred to as DREAMers – but she dodged on whether she would support delaying their deportations like President Obama’s Delayed Action on Childhood Arrivals executive order. One thing she is firm on? There shouldn’t be a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who came here as adults. “I don’t think it’s fair to say you can break all the rules and still get the same privileges,” Fiorina said.
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