Watch Kennedy’s full statement here.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, questioned the Department of Energy Deputy Secretary David Turk. The official could not or would not provide clear answers. 

Key excerpts from Kennedy’s exchange with Turk are below.

Kennedy: “Give me your best estimate, just an estimate, of how soon you think the United States of America will be carbon neutral?”

Turk: “So, I think, according to the climate scientists around the world, and certainly the cutting-edge scientists that we need to rely on here in the U.S., we've got to get carbon neutral by 2050, and I'm very comfortable with that target, and I think that's the appropriate target—"

Kennedy: “By 2050?”

Turk: “Which is only 27 years. That is not a long time away.

Kennedy: “And, how much will that cost?”

Turk: “So, the cost that I focus on even more is all the costs that are going to happen if we don’t get our act together.”

Kennedy: “No—the total cost: How much will it cost to get us carbon neutral?”

. . .

Kennedy: “How about $50 trillion? Is that right?”

Turk: “It's going to cost trillions of dollars. There's no doubt about it.”

. . .

Kennedy: “If we spent $50 trillion to become carbon neutral by 2050 in the United States of America, how much is that going to reduce world temperatures?”

. . .

Kennedy: “You don't know do you? You just want us to spend $50 trillion, and you don't have the slightest idea whether it's going to reduce world temperatures. Now I'm all for carbon neutrality, but you're the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Energy, and you're advocating we spend trillions of dollars to seek carbon neutrality and you can't—and this isn't your money or my money, this is taxpayer money—and you can’t tell me how much it’s going to lower world temperatures or you won’t tell me? You know, but you won’t.”

Full video of Kennedy’s remarks is here.