Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to those who are here by teleconference and by telephone.
I'd like to ask a question first, if I could, to Ms. Arroyo. Perhaps you could help us crystal-ball gaze a little bit. We're a little less than nine months away from the presidential election results in the United States. You mentioned that over 150 bills have mentioned climate change, and there have been 110 climate change hearings on Capitol Hill. I take it the Lieberman-Warner bill is perhaps the most promising bill for bipartisan support in the United States.
Can you help us understand something? One of the comments made by our guest Vicki Pollard from the European Union was that the European Union was seeking what she described as a first-move advantage. In other words, the European Union is not waiting and is simply going at it. Can you give us a sense of where you think a potential Democratic presidency will go? To what extent will a first- or even second-move advantage in the United States kick in? Also, can you help us understand how this issue is going to be seen economically in the United States? Is this going to become a major competitive advantage going forward?
I think this is going to help us understand the implications of the targets being called for here in this particular bill we're examining.