MSNBC "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" - Transcript: Interview with Joe Neguse
Interview
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Joining us now is Democratic Congressman Joe Neguse of Colorado. He is a member of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis.
Congressman Neguse, good to see you. I don`t know what to think about this. They studied I think 14,000 climate reports. They said very clearly there is no basis on which to doubt the human affect on climate change, and that climate change is occurring.
But even if you didn`t see those studies, you just have to live a day in America with the sweltering heat, with the wildfires, with the floods.
And yet not everybody is on the side about this right now, particularly in Washington and in Congress. We are still fighting this battle about whether this is real as opposed to fighting climate change.
REP. JOE NEGUSE (D-CO): Well, I couldn`t agree with you more. And it`s good to be with you, Ali. Look, I think the message from global scientists today was quite clear from the IPCC report, which is the time for inaction is over, and that it`s time for folks to put politics aside and to take decisive action to stop the climate crisis.
I really view this report as a final warning to the global community, and I`m hoping that my colleagues will listen.
And you know, Ali, I believe that ultimately they will because the report is confirming what so many citizens across our country are witnessing each and every day, which is that climate change is here.
I mean here in Colorado, we have had mega wildfires. Two of the state`s larges wildfires in our history have occurred in the last year. Flash flooding that has tragically taken the lives of folks in my community. And just this last weekend, the worst air quality literally in the entire western hemisphere.
So my constituents are fed up. They`re tired of inaction in Washington. And they are demanding that policymakers take this serious and treat it as the crisis that it is.
And fortunately, Ali, as you said, the Senate and the House are poised to do precisely that under the president`s Build Back Better agenda to pass generational investments in clean energy and renewable energy, and really take decisive steps to save our planet.
VELSHI: And I`m glad we`re doing that, but the Center for American Progress in March issued a report that says "There are still 139 elected officials in the 117th Congress, including 109 representatives and 30 senators who refuse to acknowledge the scientific evidence of human-caused climate change.
Climate deniers comprise 52 percent of House Republicans, 60 percent of Senate Republicans, and more than a quarter of the total number of elected officials in Congress."
Can we make progress, Congressman, with that kind of opposition?
NEGUSE: Look, Ali, I think that that position, the notion of denying the climate science and clearly what we see with our own eyes is going to quickly become politically untenable.
The reality, as I said, is that climate change is here today and anyone who lives in the Rocky Mountain West here in my state of Colorado knows that to be true, given the visceral impacts of climate change that we`re experiencing every day.
At the end of the day, we`re going to work to make sure that the reconciliation bill, which as I said, includes incredible investments in the fight against climate change, like a climate conservation corps, get across the finish line and get to the president`s desk for signature.
VELSHI: You were saying that you had the worst air quality in the western hemisphere. I actually read something that suggested that on Saturday was the worst air quality in the world. I hope I`m wrong on that.
[22:59:57]
VELSHI: Congressman, we will talk much more about the things that are going to happen once this bill is passed. Thank you for being with me tonight. Democratic Congressman Joe Neguse of Colorado.
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