Ted Cruz says climate change researchers are 'cooking the books'

In the opinion of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), climate change is less a reality, and more a theory cooked up "power-greedy" politicians. In a speech Sunday in California's Orange County in front of what Time says were "some of the most influential conservative donors in the country," presidential hopeful Cruz went full force on denying climate change. Cruz said the "data and facts don't support it."

“If you look at satellite data for the last 18 years, there’s been zero recorded warming. The satellite says it ain’t happening," Cruz said. NASA would disagree. In its report on the satellite data, the space agency says the collected information "reveals the signals of a changing climate," including increased levels of gases such as carbon dioxide. "There is no question that increased levels of greenhouse gases must cause the Earth to warm in response," the report says.

However, Cruz explained that the existing numbers on climate change are simply the result of government researchers creating climate data to better help politicians take hold of the economy and energy industry. "They're cooking the books," Cruz said. "They're actually adjusting the numbers. Enron used to do their books the same way."

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