[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 106 (Thursday, June 28, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1431-E1432]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES 
                        APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                            HON. MARK UDALL

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 26, 2007

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2643) making 
     appropriations for the Department of the Interior, 
     environment, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending 
     September 30, 2008, and for other purposes:

  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Chairman, while I am pleased that the 
Interior and Environment Appropriations bill contains funding for many 
programs important to Colorado, I am concerned, about the provision in 
the bill to create a Commission of Climate Change Mitigation and 
Adaptation.
  As has been stated by Science and Technology Chairman Bart Gordon and 
Ranking Member Ralph Hall during the floor debate, this commission 
replicates a bill that I introduced with my colleague, Mr. Inglis, 
earlier this year--H.R. 906, the Global Change Research and Data 
Management Act of 2007. The bill updates and reorients the current U.S. 
Global Change Research Program, USGCRP, which coordinates all Federal 
climate change research and was established by law in 1990.
  My bill would strengthen and streamline Federal global change 
research and make it more user-friendly for State and local 
governments, planners and researchers. My bill affirms the need for the 
continued strong Federal support for global change research, and it

[[Page E1432]]

does map out a new emphasis on production of information needed to 
inform these important policy debates.
  Members of the Science and Technology Committee have been working on 
improving this legislation since I introduced it earlier this year. The 
committee received comments from experts on climate change research 
throughout the country and held a hearing on this issue on May 3, 2007. 
The bill was marked up in the Energy and Environment Subcommittee on 
June 6. It is scheduled to be marked up before the full Science and 
Technology Committee tomorrow.
  We all agree that a interagency climate change working group is 
needed and that the current U.S. Global Change Research Program needs 
to be updated. My bill, H.R. 906, is the best way to address this 
issue. I was pleased to hear assurances from Interior and the 
Environment Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Dicks to Chairman 
Gordon that we will address this issue in conference and that the final 
appropriations bill language will reflect both current law and H.R. 
906. I look forward to working with Chairmen Obey, Dicks and Gordon on 
the final legislation.

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