Climate Action Now Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. CASTOR of Florida. Mr. Chair, I thank Chairman Engel of the Foreign Affairs Committee for yielding the time.

Mr. Chairman, I rise humbly as a Representative of my home State of Florida and as a patriotic American but, especially today, as a mother of two daughters and future generations because I feel the weight of our moral responsibility to address climate change.

This is a historic day here in the House of Representatives. This is the first time in 10 years that major climate legislation is being heard in the people's House.

H.R. 9, the Climate Action Now Act, is where we will start by honoring America's commitment to address the climate crisis, and it is a crisis. The last time global monthly temperatures were below average was in February of 1985. That means everyone who is 34 years of age or younger has grown up in a world that has been forever altered by the change in climate.

How severe the impacts of climate change will be to us personally over time depends on the actions that we take now.

Based on the latest science from the administration's own National Climate Assessment, we have reason to worry. Seas are rising. America's heartland and farms have suffered unprecedented floods. Snowpack is shrinking, and that is bad for clean water supplies. Droughts are getting worse. Hot, humid heat waves are becoming more intense, with more days where people cannot safely work or play outside. Higher temperatures mean that pollutants, like ground-level ozone from car exhaust, will become more damaging to our health.

One-and-a-half years ago, I had to pack up my home, board up the windows and doors, pack up my most cherished belongings, and flee as Hurricane Irma, that monster hurricane, threatened the State of Florida. We were scared of a huge storm surge coming up from the Gulf of Mexico and into Tampa Bay. We were petrified.

Fortunately, we had time to get out of the way, but that isn't true for so many Americans who have suffered floods, fires, and more. They haven't been as lucky. And the risks and costs going forward are likely to be more severe.

What is necessary to combat the climate crisis is to stop carbon pollution from accumulating in the atmosphere. That requires action, urgent action, ambitious action.

Fortunately, we have made some progress in recent years in cutting carbon pollution. Thousands of businesses, houses of worship, States, and communities are taking action. Now they are demanding that we do the same.

A few years ago, there was also good news. After years of finger- pointing, the United States, China, India, Europe, and other countries, all of the countries around the world, came together and agreed to cut carbon pollution. With America's leadership and engagement, the U.S. led other nations in committing to take climate action in an international agreement called the Paris climate accord. The agreement was a breakthrough.

After years of playing the blame game, nearly every other country said, here is our plan, and each country developed its own individual plan, and America has done just that. That plan has incredible upsides.

We are creating millions of clean energy jobs right now, and they are good-paying jobs. We are saving billions of dollars on home energy bills, and businesses are saving huge amounts of money through energy efficiency. We can finally address climate injustice.

And despite what the Trump administration says, America is still in the international agreement. We have not formally withdrawn. If this bill becomes law, we never will, because America does not cut and run, America keeps its commitments, and we will recommit to doing so when we pass this bill.

My Climate Action Now bill is straightforward. It would block the administration from spending any money on withdrawal, and it would require the Trump administration to release its plan to cut carbon pollution.

Americans overwhelmingly support U.S. leadership on the climate crisis because they understand that when America leads, we win. Ask the 23 States, 300 cities, and more than 2,000 businesses who have pledged to honor the Paris goals. Now they will be joined by the House of Representatives.

Some of the fastest growing jobs in America are clean energy, engineering, green building, solar installers, and wind turbine technicians. This is just the beginning, but we have to stay on course.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. CASTOR of Florida. In addition to sending an important signal to clean energy, job-creating businesses, this will send an important signal to our allies across the world. We expect ambitious action from them.

I have heard my friends on the other side of the aisle say, but China. Well, if the President forces a retreat here, other countries will retreat, as well. A vote against H.R. 9 is a vote to let China off the hook. This is a patriotic vote. Vote for America, vote for our future, and keep us in the climate Paris Agreement. I thank the hundreds of my colleagues who have joined this, and I thank the brave Republicans who will join us in this patriotic vote for Climate Action Now.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source