[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 102 (Thursday, June 15, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3550-S3551]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CLIMATE CHANGE
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, one thing we learn at a young age is the
very basic principle that, when you give your word, you keep it. On
June I, on the international stage, President Trump signaled to the
rest of the world that America cannot be relied upon to meet this very
basic tenet. On one warm afternoon in Washington, President Trump
withdrew the United States from one of the most sweeping global
environmental accords in generations. Abandoning our obligations to the
Paris climate accords doesn't make America great. It doesn't reflect
America's traditional role as innovator, leader, and standard bearer in
our shared commitment to protecting the environment.
The chief U.S. negotiator of those accords, Todd Stern, is a former
member of my staff. No one among the ranks of our government was closer
to these negotiations, which led to a deal that was a win for American
workers and businesses and a first step toward ensuring the survival of
our planet. His words, published by the Washington Post on June 1,
should be required reading for every American, including the President.
By reneging on our pledge to honor these accords, which were forged
through U.S. leadership, President Trump is ceding American leadership
in emerging clean energy technologies and worsening one of the genuine
existential threats to the world. The President's decision was a
serious setback in our fight to save our planet. But as Mr. Stem
writes, ``This is not the end of the line. This is a call to arms.''
Governors and mayors and State and local officials are heeding this
call, rejecting the President's decision, and pledging to move forward
with aggressive efforts to curb climate change. President Trump may
think this is the end of America's involvement in the Paris climate
accord. But, like Todd Stern, I believe a majority of Americans will
reject this move. I, too, hope they will double down on our shared
commitment to protecting our environment and our world for generations
to come.
I ask unanimous consent that Mr. Stern's column, ``Trump just
betrayed the world. Now the world will fight back,'' be printed in the
Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[From the Washington Post, June 1, 2017]
Trump Just Betrayed the World. Now The World Will Fight Back.
(By Todd Stern)
President Trump has made a colossal mistake in deciding to
withdraw from the Paris climate agreement. There is simply no
case for withdrawal, other than a desire to double down on an
ill-informed campaign promise, while the case for staying in
is overwhelming. But damaging as it is, this decision is not
the beginning of the end for efforts to contain climate
change. The world decided in Paris to confront the climate
threat, and it is not turning back.
Around the world, climate change is a metastasizing danger,
for some countries even an existential threat. It was
understood in the years leading up to the Paris negotiation
that the climate challenge could be met only with a new kind
of agreement premised on concerted effort by all. That
agreement--ambitious, universal, transparent, balanced--was
reached in Paris, with the help of U.S. leadership every step
of the way.
Trump's suggestion Thursday that he is willing to
renegotiate the deal to make it fairer to the United States
doesn't pass the straight-face test. The Paris agreement--for
anyone who actually understands it--is entirely fair to the
United States. The idea that 194 other countries will listen
to Trump's insulting Rose Garden blather and say, ``Sure,
let's sit down and negotiate a new deal'' is ridiculous.
Instead, Trump's decision will be seen as an ugly
betrayal--self-centered, callous, hollow, cruel. The ravages
of climate change have been on display in recent years in the
superstorms, floods, rising sea levels, droughts, fires and
deadly heat waves that will only get worse as the carbon
index mounts. Vulnerable countries will look at the United
States, the richest power on Earth, the largest historic
emitter of greenhouse gases, and think--even if they do not
say--how dare you?
President Barack Obama once said to business leaders, in a
Roosevelt Room meeting I attended, that climate change was
the one threat, other than nuclear weapons, with the
potential to alter the course of human progress. A near-
consensus of major U.S. companies urged the Trump
administration to stay in the agreement because they know
climate change is real, that the Paris agreement is a good
and balanced deal, that their own concerns on matters such as
intellectual property and trade will be defended only if U.S.
negotiators are at the table and that turning the United
States into a climate-change pariah will be bad for business,
for access to markets and for investment. But our chief-
executive president decided to leave U.S. business in the
lurch.
All this is more than disappointing. And watching the so-
called internal battle on this issue play out between
determined antagonists on the one side and diffident, sotto
voce defenders on the other was downright depressing.
But let's be clear: This is not the end of the line. This
is a call to arms.
Countries won't follow Trump out of the Paris climate
agreement and over a cliff. They won't give Trump the
satisfaction of ``canceling'' the agreement, as he promised
during his campaign. They will want to show that they can
carry on without the United States. And they know too well
that climate change is real and that if the Paris regime fell
apart, they'd just have to build it again. They will hold on
to the hope that the current administration will be a one-
term wonder. It is true that, in the longer run, it would be
difficult for the Paris regime to produce accelerated action
at the level that is needed without the United States. But
other countries will probably bet that the United States will
come back.
Progressive U.S. states and cities also have a crucial role
to play, not only in extending the good work they are already
doing on climate change, but also by sending a clear and
resounding message to the global community: that while
Trump's Washington may have gone dark on climate change,
inspired centers of innovation and commitment are lighting
the way forward all over the country. In states such as
California and New York, Washington, Oregon, Minnesota,
Illinois and North Carolina, and in New England; in cities
such as New York, Chicago,
[[Page S3551]]
Los Angeles, Houston and New Orleans, among many others.
These entities account for a sizable chunk of both U.S. gross
domestic product and carbon emissions. They may not be able
to get the United States all the way to our 2025 Paris
emissions target, but they have the potential to go far.
Private companies, too, have been instrumental in driving
the clean-energy revolution, pursuing the massive economic
opportunities presented by the need to decarbonize our energy
system. And consumers are increasingly demanding that
companies not only provide desirable products or services,
but also stand as good corporate citizens.
Finally, for citizens, it is time to hold our leaders
accountable at all levels of government. Protecting our
nation, our children and our American heritage should not be
optional for an elected leader. Nor should preserving
America's singular standing in the world.
Thursday was not a good day for climate change, and it was
not a good day for the United States. Nothing we say now can
change that. But it is a day that needs to be remembered as
the visible moment the rear-guard opposition went too far. It
is a day to spark action and resolve. It is a day that needs
to count.
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