Paris Climate Change Talks

Floor Speech

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Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Oregon for his leadership, bringing the message of the harm being done to our natural world, I thank Senator Cardin for taking this delegation of 10 Members to Paris, and I thank the Senator for having this session on the floor.

We are at an inflection point. We are at a point where the danger to the planet is clear.

Mr. President, 2014 was the warmest year ever recorded. This past November was the warmest November ever recorded. October was the warmest October ever recorded. There is now a warming of our planet that is intensifying dangerously, and we have to act in order to avoid the most catastrophic consequences, and that is what is happening in Paris right now. The United States is leading the way. The rest of the world is coming together, and we have a chance to have a very good agreement.

We are going to have the President's back because the 1992 treaty, under which he is negotiating, was ratified by this body. The Clean Air Act that he is operating under was passed by this body. The clean power rules and increase in fuel economy standards----

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Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, this afternoon--and I think it will continue over the next week--the Republicans and the American petroleum industry are going to try to lift the ban on the exportation of American oil, which could lead to more drilling for millions of barrels of oil on our soil, while at the same time not giving a simultaneous, equal extension of wind and solar tax breaks so that we can continue this revolution that we are bragging about in Paris right now to the rest of the world. These two things do not go together.

You cannot simultaneously drill for more oil that is not drilled for today and then have an ending of the wind and solar tax breaks as they are kicking in. You cannot preach temperance from a barstool. You cannot preach temperance as you are putting up new oil rigs and simultaneously say that the wind and solar tax breaks are going to end and end soon. We have to have both if there is going to be a deal, and right now that is in question in this Chamber. It is important for the American people to know that answer because in Paris they are waiting for this answer. There are 190 nations that want to know that we are actually going to do what we are saying we are going to do in this agreement that we are trying to reach--the most important agreement for this century in terms of the well-being of the planet.

I thank the Presiding Officer for allowing me that courtesy, and I thank the Senator from Utah for his forbearance.

I yield back the remainder of my time.

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