[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 83 (Monday, May 21, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6390-S6391]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             CLIMATE CHANGE

  Mr. COLEMAN. Mr. President, I want to switch subjects.
  I see my colleague from Connecticut in the Chamber.
  I rise to engage in a colloquy with truly my friend, the Senator from 
Connecticut, about an issue facing every American and every citizen of 
this world--an issue on which he is a true leader in the Senate, and 
for which he has had great vision, great perseverance, and for which I 
applaud him. That is the issue of climate change.
  There is now a preponderance of evidence from the scientific 
community that human activities, particularly the burning of fossil 
fuels, have increased the atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide 
by 36 percent from preindustrial levels, leading to a dangerous 
increase in global average temperatures.
  The temperatures speak for themselves. According to NASA, 2005 was 
the warmest year globally on record since readings began in 1880, with 
1998 a close second. And 8 of the last 10 years are amongst the warmest 
years on record. The effects are increasingly tangible. Since 1979, 
more than 20 percent of the polar ice cap has melted.
  So often in this Chamber we talk about the future. We talk about 
doing things for our kids. Well, if we care about our kids, and we care 
about our future, we better care about what will happen if we do not 
take action soon to reduce greenhouse gas emissions sufficiently to 
prevent the temperature increases forecasted for this century.
  Thankfully, we are a nation of innovators, of entrepreneurs, of 
individuals with bold initiative. The technologies necessary to 
stabilize our atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases in time to 
prevent a dangerous increase in temperature are right at our 
fingertips--from biofuels and plug-in hybrid vehicles to nuclear energy 
and carbon sequestration for coal plants, and many more. It is time for 
Congress to provide the strong market signals necessary to press these 
technologies forward, which is why I believe Congress should work for 
an economywide response to climate change with an idea I have 
championed: provide utilities incentives to increase the percentage of 
their electricity sales they generate using clean energy sources such 
as renewables, nuclear, and clean coal with carbon capture technology.
  Yet it is not enough for the United States to act alone. China is 
projected to be the largest greenhouse gas emitter by the end of this 
year. Climate change legislation must not put America's workers at a 
competitive disadvantage with the Chinese, and it must not send 
manufacturing jobs overseas. A greenhouse gas reduction program must 
not put Americans out of work or drive more hard-working families into 
poverty.
  When I drive on the streets, such as Grand Avenue in St. Paul, and it 
is minus 10 degrees, minus 15 degrees, and I see that mom sitting at a 
bus stop waiting to catch a bus, or see that senior, I care about the 
costs they have to pay for energy. So those are things we have to think 
about. I refuse to look at this, or any other issue, without 
considering the effect it will have on those who are trying to support 
their family or, as I said before, the effect it will have on the 
elderly, struggling to survive on a fixed income.
  Accordingly, I have been working with Senator Lieberman over the last 
several months on an agreement that allows us to work together on his 
Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act in a way that meets my concerns 
about what mandatory greenhouse gas reduction legislation should look 
like.

  Today, we have arrived at that agreement, and I believe together we 
can work in a bipartisan way to address this very serious issue.
  I earlier introduced a sense-of-the-Senate resolution stating that 
any comprehensive, mandatory greenhouse gas emissions reduction program 
enacted by Congress should include provisions requiring a process of 
review of the program if it is found that other countries are not 
taking comparable action and if the unemployment or the poverty rates 
are found to be increasing as a result of the program. This sense of 
the Senate also states such a program should include incentives for 
utilities that increase their portfolio of clean energy.
  I say to Senator Lieberman, I wish to ask to be added as a cosponsor 
to your Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act and thank you for your 
cosponsorship of this sense-of-the-Senate resolution, and finally your 
commitment to work on EPW to examine my clean energy portfolio proposal 
in a committee hearing, and to fight during EPW markup of climate 
change legislation for inclusion of: No. 1, congressional review of 
greenhouse gas caps, if other countries are not taking comparable 
climate change action; No. 2, congressional review of greenhouse gas 
caps, if the unemployment and poverty rates are increasing due to a 
U.S. greenhouse gas reduction program; and, No. 3, provisions to reward 
electric utilities that increase the percentage of their electricity 
sales generated with ``clean energy'' or energy for noncarbon-emitting 
sources such as nuclear and clean coal.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. LIEBERMAN. I thank the Chair.
  Mr. President, I rise to thank my friend, the Senator from Minnesota, 
for his kind words. More importantly, I thank him for the commitment he 
has expressed to protecting all of our children and grandchildren from 
the impacts of unchecked global warming.
  Senator Coleman, in stepping forward today, has put himself at the 
vanguard of the next crucial wave of bipartisan support in the Senate 
for climate stewardship legislation.
  I am proud to cosponsor his resolution which, in a very thoughtful 
way--not an obstructionist way--recognizes two of the most significant 
reasons why people have hesitated to step forward and do something 
about climate change. One is the equities here: that no matter how much 
we do in the United States of America to curb the emission of 
greenhouse gases--and we must because we are the largest emitter of 
such gases; we must lead here; it is our responsibility, ultimately our 
moral responsibility--but no matter how much we assume that leadership 
role, if other developing nations such as China and India do not do 
their part, because we all live in the same global environment, the 
problem of global warming will continue to increase and be more serious 
for those who follow us here on Earth.
  Second is his recognition of a thoughtful way to deal with the 
concerns people have--even those who desperately want to do something 
to impede the advance of global warming--as to the impact of what we do 
will have

[[Page S6391]]

on our economy. It is clear Senator Coleman has been a leader here, and 
that is why his cosponsorship of our legislation makes a critical 
point. There is no conflict between protecting our world and all who 
live in it from catastrophic climate change and also protecting 
America's economy, protecting America's consumers, and protecting 
America's workers. We can, must, and will do both. For those who may 
have had doubts about our capacity to do that, I think Senator 
Coleman's cosponsorship of the Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act 
is critically important. The fact is everyone who works with Senator 
Coleman knows he cares deeply about the well-being of low- and middle-
income Americans and of America's workers, and he would not be 
cosponsoring the Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act--stepping 
forward to take a leadership role in the battle against global 
warming--if he felt the components of that act would adversely affect 
our economy.
  I am very honored to have earned the support of my friend from 
Minnesota on this crucial issue. I promise him I will work to ensure he 
is not disappointed by the outcome of our efforts. In particular, it is 
my honor to chair a subcommittee on climate change in the Environment 
and Public Works Committee, and I will work to ensure that the bill we 
report from our subcommittee and full committee embraces the principles 
set forth in the resolution my friend from Minnesota has introduced 
today, and of which I am proud to be a cosponsor.
  The good news is I will not be working alone. I believe a bipartisan 
majority of the Environment and Public Works Committee wants to report 
to the Senate floor this year comprehensive legislation that reduces 
greenhouse gas emissions substantially enough and quickly enough 
to forestall the disastrous climate change so many reputable scientists 
are warning us of, and that does so in a way that does not weaken the 
position of the United States economically or otherwise impose hardship 
on our citizens.

  I further say to my friend from Minnesota that before we vote on that 
legislation in our subcommittee, we are going to be having additional 
hearings. Senator Warner, my ranking member, is committed also to 
seeing that the subcommittee produces legislation this year that deals 
with the problem of global warming and the challenge of its impact on 
our world. I want to ensure my friend from Minnesota that one of those 
hearings will include a witness who can educate the committee and 
discuss the proposal of the Senator from Minnesota for a clean energy 
portfolio standard. Personally, I think his idea is a constructive one, 
a thoughtful one, a progressive one, and deserves serious 
consideration.
  I am eager to explore ways to further encourage electric power 
producers to increase their use of advanced technologies that can 
provide reliable, affordable baseload electricity without injecting 
more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
  Mr. President, I conclude by again thanking my friend from Minnesota 
and asking unanimous consent--and I do so with great gratitude to him, 
as I believe his leadership here is significant--that the Senator from 
Minnesota, Mr. Coleman, be added as a cosponsor to S. 280, the Climate 
Stewardship and Innovation Act of 2007, which Senator McCain and I 
introduced earlier this year.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senator from Minnesota.
  Mr. COLEMAN. Mr. President, I thank my dear friend from Connecticut 
for his remarks, his commitments. Let me say, first, I am proud to be 
working with him as cosponsor of S. 280, the Climate Stewardship and 
Innovation Act of 2007.
  The Senator from Connecticut approaches this issue, which is an 
important issue--it is a real issue; we have to deal with it--in a way 
which he is known for in this Senate, which is in a thoughtful, 
constructive way, a way which takes into account the concerns and the 
impact upon employees, upon consumers, and, perhaps most importantly, 
upon our kids and grandkids in the next generation. For that I thank 
him and say it is a privilege to work with him--a man of great 
character and great dedication.
  Mr. President, with that I yield the floor.

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