[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 186 (Tuesday, November 27, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H9658-H9664]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             CLIMATE CHANGE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Gianforte). Under the Speaker's 
announced policy of January 3, 2017, the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Garamendi) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority 
leader.
  Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to move to the subject of 
climate change, however, my colleague, Terri Sewell, has reminded me 
that a very important organization needs a few moments, so I yield to 
the gentlewoman from Alabama (Ms. Sewell), to speak about the Stennis 
Center.


                       Recognizing Rex Buffington

  Ms. SEWELL of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of 
Rex Buffington, for his life's work as executive director of the John 
C. Stennis Center for Public Service Leadership since it was 
established 30 years ago.
  I again thank the gentleman from California for yielding me this 
time. I am joined here tonight by my fellow board members of the 
Stennis Center as we speak about the retirement of the executive 
director, Rex Buffington.
  For more than 30 years, the Stennis Center has taught, inspired, and

[[Page H9659]]

trained our Nation's young people through programs such as debate, 
women's leadership initiatives, and Truman Scholars. Thanks to the 
leadership of Rex from the very beginning, their work has had a 
powerful impact on our Nation's leadership, mobilizing a generation of 
dedicated public servants and community leaders.
  I am happy to share with Rex not only our southern roots--he is from 
Mississippi and I am from Alabama--but our mutual love for debate and 
our dear friend, my former high school debate coach, Coach Billy Tate. 
Coach Billy Tate, my high school debate coach at Selma High School, was 
instrumental in the creation of the John C. Stennis Novice Speech and 
Debate Tournament.
  I know that my life's journey would not have been possible if it had 
not been for my high school debate experience. I know that the Stennis 
Center's debate program is just one of the many ways young leaders 
across this country are being equipped with the invaluable tools 
necessary for leadership.
  Rex knows that it is the people behind our democracy that makes 
democracy work. He has been quoted as saying: ``No government, 
regardless of its history or structure, can be better than the people 
who make it work.''
  I agree with Rex. When we have programs aimed at attracting 
thoughtful, committed, and honest leaders to public service, we get 
good policy in the end.
  While I am disappointed to see Rex's time as executive director come 
to an end, I know that his leadership has set the groundwork for 
another 30 years of success in attracting young people of character to 
public service.
  The impact that Rex has had has been enormous, and I thank him.
  Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Mississippi 
(Mr. Harper).
  Mr. HARPER. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the United States House of 
Representatives and the Board of Trustees for the John C. Stennis 
Center for Public Service Leadership, it is with great gratitude that 
we honor Rex Buffington for his many years of distinguished public 
service.
  Rex Buffington was appointed executive director of the John C. 
Stennis Center for Public Service Leadership when the center was 
established in 1988 to promote and strengthen public service leadership 
in America.
  As executive director of the Stennis Center, Rex has been responsible 
for development and delivery of programs aimed at attracting young 
leaders to public service and providing current public service leaders 
with opportunities to further develop their leadership skills and 
capabilities. Participants in Stennis Center programs range from 
students in high school to Members of Congress.

  Prior to his work at the Stennis Center, Rex served as press 
secretary to Senator John C. Stennis of Mississippi for 12 years. As 
the Senator's chief spokesperson, speechwriter, and communications 
director, Rex coordinated activities and strategies aimed at achieving 
the Senator's mission and legislative agenda.
  I am so honored to serve as chairman of the board of trustees for the 
John C. Stennis Center for Public Service Leadership. I have seen what 
Rex has done firsthand, and it has been a privilege to work directly 
with him.
  Rex is an encourager of every person that he comes in contact with. 
He knows better than anyone the legacy of Senator John Stennis who 
served Mississippi and our Nation with great distinction for over 41 
years as a U.S. Senator, ultimately becoming President pro tempore.
  President Reagan once called the Mississippi Senator ``an unwavering 
advocate of peace through strength.''
  Senator Stennis had a passion for fostering leadership and promoting 
public service, two objectives that Rex has carried forward during his 
time serving as executive director.
  The USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier, the only one not named 
after a President, has the two-word motto adopted by Senator Stennis 
that he had: Look Ahead.
  Senator Stennis would be proud of the work that Rex Buffington and 
the John C. Stennis Center for Public Service Leadership continue to 
do, and he would be proud of the great work that Rex has done.
  We are all very proud of the great work that he has done over these 
years of distinguished service to Mississippi and to our Nation. We 
congratulate him on a job well done, and we wish him the best as he 
looks ahead.
  Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Alabama 
(Mrs. Roby).
  Mrs. ROBY. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his generosity in 
yielding a few minutes for this very important moment.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute as well to a true public 
servant, Rex Buffington. Rex has dedicated so much of his professional 
life to supporting leaders in this country, most recently, as you have 
already heard, as the executive director of the John C. Stennis Center 
for Public Service Leadership, where he has served admirably since the 
Stennis Center's establishment in 1988.
  After many years of encouraging new leaders and supporting existing 
ones, Rex is retiring. His tireless efforts will be greatly missed, but 
I know I speak for many who know him in saying we are proud of him and 
we are confident that his next chapter brings more wonderful 
milestones.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Rex. His 
work for the Stennis Center has positively impacted American leaders 
from all generations and walks of life, from high school students to 
the Members of Congress who walk these halls today. I know this 
firsthand because I am one of those Members that he has impacted.
  I wish Rex, John Gavin, and Catherine great success in the road 
ahead. He will be missed, but his impact will be felt for many years to 
come.

                              {time}  2000

  Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mrs. Roby, Mr. Harper, and Ms. 
Sewell for bringing to our attention one of the important organizations 
that develops leadership here in the United States, and, obviously, 
from the two of you, Mrs. Roby and Ms. Sewell, who are perfect examples 
of the success of the center.


                         Climate Change Is Real

  Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, we will turn to another topic, I think, 
of interest, if my colleagues would just excuse me for a moment.
  I always try to start these sessions with purpose. What are we all 
about here? And I often use this from Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and he 
said: ``The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the 
abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for 
those who have too little.''
  While I always use this, I am trying to figure now, how does this 
figure into climate change? What would the words of Franklin Delano 
Roosevelt have to do with climate change in the era of greenhouse gas 
emissions?
  I thought about it for a while and I said, it may be difficult to 
make the connection, but there really is one. And I really want to 
start with this: What is our purpose here?
  If we think about climate change, we are going to have to understand 
and read and pay attention to this. This is the cover of an 
extraordinarily important document that the Federal Government, the 
Government of the United States of America, issued last Friday when 
most of America was out shopping, Black Friday.
  Now, maybe there is some reason that the administration chose to 
issue this critical report on that day. If it was to bury the report, 
they are not going to be successful, because this document, required by 
Congress over the last 20-plus years, gives a clarion call to every 
human being on this planet today.
  That clarion call is so important that, on this first day following 
Thanksgiving and the issuance of this report, we brought it to the 
floor of the House of Representatives to alert this Nation that, 
despite trying to hide this report on Friday, it is now part of the 
public record.
  We need to understand what the impact of climate change is on all of 
us today, Americans, and to generations into the future. The impact is 
stark. It is heavy. It is ominous. And it is already happening.
  The front page says: Fires. I am from California. We know about 
fires. This is a month ago, fires in California, all of

[[Page H9660]]

these at one time: the Mendocino Complex in my district, the largest 
single wildfire in California's history; the Sierras, down in the 
southern valley; and the smoke from the Camp fire, burning more than 
1,000 homes on this day; smoke covering nearly the entire State of 
California.
  Are those fires the result of climate change? The answer is 
absolutely, yes--the extensiveness, the severity, and the number of 
acres burned.
  More familiar, perhaps, and more recent, just days after those fires 
that I just put up there, this one happened. Eighty-four people are 
known to have perished in the Paradise fire, the most mass casualties 
in recent history in the United States. Unfortunately, there are still 
a couple hundred people unaccounted for.
  Is this fire a result of climate change? Yes, it is--the intensity of 
the fire, the rapidity with which it tore through the forest and wiped 
out an entire town of 26,000 inhabitants. Fourteen thousand residences 
were burned out in this fire. There is more to be said.
  How about flooding? Port Arthur, Texas, a city that was flooded, and 
more along the Gulf Coast this fall. Another community was totally 
wiped out or near totally wiped out on the Florida panhandle. Massive 
storms ripped through the Caribbean and up into the United States.
  Is flooding a result of climate change? The severity and the 
intensity of the flooding, certainly--North Carolina, South Carolina, 
Florida, and Texas. In California, we have our share of it also.
  All of these are words laid out in this climate assessment: Economic 
losses today and into the future, perhaps $141 billion over the next 
several decades from heat-related deaths alone; $118 billion cost from 
sea level rise.
  Do you live on the coast? The San Francisco Bay, Florida, a good 
portion of Florida, Miami, the Everglades, the East Coast, all of it is 
affected by climate change.
  We have a problem, folks. Are you interested in ecology? Are you 
interested in wildlife? Are you interested in forests? This was once a 
green forest in California.
  We predicted in the mid-1990s, when I was given a task as the Deputy 
Secretary at the Department of the Interior to investigate and to 
anticipate what climate change would bring to America, we said there 
would be more fires, more intense fires. They would be more 
devastating. They would be larger. They would be faster.
  We said there would be more flooding. We said the hurricanes would be 
even greater than in the past. We predicted that a city called New 
Orleans would flood. We predicted that a place called New York City 
would flood. And they both did a few short years after that report, as 
we prepared the United States for the Kyoto climate conference.
  Coming out of that conference, the House of Representatives and the 
Senate of this great body denied the opportunity for the United States 
to join in the treaty that came out of that conference, and it got 
worse.
  Forests of California, we predicted there would be a die-off. And, in 
fact, there is. This is just one small part of the massive die-off of 
trees that is occurring in the forests all across America, even into 
the Arctic regions.
  Pay attention, America. Pay attention, Congress. Pay attention, 
Senate. And for heaven's sake, President Trump, please pay attention to 
the reality of climate change. It is here. It is a massive problem.
  The U.S. military more than a decade ago predicted that wars would be 
breaking out because of climate migration, climate refugees. It is 
happening. It is happening around the world.
  Read this assessment of what it means to America. We have an 
obligation. We, the 435 Representatives of the American people, have an 
obligation to address this crisis. It is not a crisis of the future. It 
is a crisis of today and the future.
  Do we have the courage to do this? Do we have the courage to 
decarbonize our energy supplies? We have to find the courage. We have 
no choice.
  Joining me tonight are people, Members of this House who share the 
commitment to address climate change.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Schneider), 
my friend from the city of Chicago, to join us and share with us his 
concerns.
  Mr. SCHNEIDER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, Mr. Garamendi from 
California, for organizing this evening's conversation, but more 
importantly, for drawing attention to this critically important issue.
  It is more than a little bit shameful that the administration chose 
to release the Fourth National Climate Assessment on Black Friday, a 
day, as the gentleman noted, when most families, most people, are 
focused on the Thanksgiving holiday. Some are shopping, and some are 
hanging out with their family and friends. But it was clear that this 
was an apparent effort by the administration to introduce this report 
at a time when people weren't paying attention.
  Fortunately, people are paying attention to this issue. We are seeing 
it with the concerns people have watching the fires in California; the 
floods and hurricanes this summer or fall in Florida; last year, with 
the hurricanes and flooding in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, and the 
Virgin Islands.
  The report that was released on Friday was a rigorous report, 
assembled by 13 Federal agencies and covering more than 1,000 pages of 
detailed analysis and data, highlighting the impacts we can expect over 
the next decades into the next century if action isn't taken.
  Impacts include increased storms, flooding, devastation, mudslides 
from the size of these storms; loss of physical property; incalculable 
human cost from loss of life and other damages; droughts that are 
leading to fires, crop failures, loss of arable land, not just in our 
country, but, literally, around the world.
  The facts are clear. But, again, the Trump administration tried to 
bury this report, and the President himself says he does not believe 
the report.
  Well, to put it simply, this is not about beliefs. This is about 
science. The facts could not be clearer. Climate change is a serious 
threat to our Nation. It is a threat to our economy, to our national 
security, and to the planet that we pass on to our children. We need to 
take action now before it is too late.
  The report forecasts that more severe storms, droughts, coastal 
flooding, and other climate effects could reduce the size of the 
American economy by 10 percent before the end of the century, almost 
doubling the impact to our economy of the Great Recession of 2008.
  The recent fires in California were exacerbated by climate change, 
and more fires are forecast in the Southeast and throughout the West, 
if action isn't taken.
  The agricultural Midwest, from where I come, will be particularly 
hard-hit. This report forecasts the farming sector could lose so much 
productivity that the crisis of the 1980s could even seem tame. We need 
to do something.
  On the national security front, we will be affected. The report says 
that climate change variability and extreme events, in conjunction with 
other factors, can exacerbate conflict around the world, as we have 
already seen. Droughts, floods, storm surges, wildfires, and other 
extreme events stress nations and people through loss of life, 
displacement of populations, and impacts on livelihoods, the report 
continues.
  While the White House refuses to make climate a priority, I am 
heartened that the Pentagon continues to treat this threat with the 
seriousness it deserves and focuses on it as a national security 
crisis.
  This is a global challenge. It can only be met with a global 
response.

                              {time}  2015

  It needs the people of the world and the nations of the world to come 
together. This is literally a call to action for all of the people of 
the world. That is the power that was behind the Paris climate accord 
where every nation has come together and said: We must act, and we must 
act with urgency.
  The world needs American leadership, and, sadly, this administration 
is turning away from that responsibility and that obligation. But 
thankfully, we are seeing many cities, communities, States, and even 
business leaders saying: We are in. We are not going to step away.
  The Trump administration continues to say: We are walking away.

[[Page H9661]]

  The Trump administration, in fact, continues to make matters worse. 
They rolled back the Clean Power Plan to slow our transition away from 
dirty forms of energy. They have undercut environmental regulations to 
limit methane pollution. Most significantly, last year, the President 
announced he was withdrawing the United States from the Paris climate 
agreement.
  Climate change is a global problem that requires global solutions, 
and American leadership must play a role. We must stay within the Paris 
accord.
  There is still time to fix this problem if we take action today. If 
we come together as a nation and if we come together as a world, then I 
hope we can do that in this body. I hope we can do this as a nation, 
and I hope this country can continue to lead to make sure that we pass 
on to our children an environment, a climate, and a world that is 
worthy of the legacy of our great Nation.
  Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman so very much for 
his very forceful words and for the fact that he brought to the table 
not alternate facts, but real facts laid out by the scientists who put 
this together. We have a challenge, and I know, with the kind of 
leadership the gentleman is providing for all of us here in the House 
of Representatives and back in Illinois, we have no choice but to get 
this done--and we will.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like now to turn to my colleague, Mr. Payne from 
New Jersey. We often are here on the floor together. I invite Mr. Payne 
to please join us, and we will talk about this issue as it might affect 
him and his constituents.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne).
  Mr. PAYNE. First, Mr. Speaker, I would like to start by thanking my 
colleague, Congressman Garamendi, from the great State of California 
for hosting this evening's Special Order hour on the threat climate 
change poses for our Nation and our constituents.
  Mr. Garamendi has done a great service by hosting timely and 
important Special Orders throughout the 115th Congress. Today's Special 
Order hour is especially important, as it comes on the heels of the 
Trump administration's attempt to bury its own climate change report 
and only a day after devastating fires in California were contained.
  Because of global climate change, the United States is going to 
suffer from more frequent and more devastating disasters like 
Superstorm Sandy, which caused massive flooding in my State in 2012 and 
the Camp fire, which is the deadliest and most destructive in 
California's history.
  Considering that Donald Trump thinks that climate change is an 
international conspiracy, a hoax concocted by the Chinese, it came as 
no surprise to me that he has released his own administration's climate 
change report on Black Friday when people are out with their families 
shopping and not paying attention to what is going on in the news.
  The U.S. climate assessment is damning. It gives President Trump and 
his GOP allies no cover to proclaim that climate change isn't real. The 
report took our country's top climate scientists 4 years to research 
and write. It is more than 1,000 pages long and represents work done by 
13 Federal agencies.
  One of the authors, Katherine Hayhoe of Texas Tech University, 
summarized the evidence like this: Climate change is happening here and 
now.
  If the United States does not act fast, the effects of climate change 
are only going to get worse for the American people. We already have to 
deal with increasingly frequent and deadly wildfires, hurricanes, and 
extreme weather events. That is going to get worse if we don't curb 
greenhouse gas emissions that are impacting our climate. Climate change 
also means that some areas will see more rains and more flooding.
  Our Nation's infrastructure is already suffering from neglect, as we 
have had a Special Order hour on that in the past. The American Society 
of Civil Engineers gives our infrastructure a D-plus.
  The stress of more frequent and intense rain, flooding, and heat is 
likely to cause a great deal of damage to our already frail 
infrastructure. Flooding will overwhelm and erode our roads. It will 
stress and possibly bring down bridges. We will have to shut down major 
roadways, railways, and ports. People's lives and their livelihoods 
will be at risk.
  For my district in New Jersey, the economic impact will be 
devastating. My constituents work at Port Newark, the busiest in the 
East. They travel to and from jobs in New York City through the 
Nation's busiest tunnels and bridges, which are already overwhelmed. 
They live on or near the water.
  Our national infrastructure just wasn't built for the kinds of 
extreme weather we can expect if climate change goes unchecked. I have 
no doubt that the people of New Jersey are resilient, but the longer 
our Federal Government takes to address climate change, the more 
difficult it will become to adapt.
  But it is not just our infrastructure that is at risk if we don't 
take action on climate change. If left unchecked, climate change is 
going to hospitalize and kill our constituents. According to the 2017 
New Jersey Climate and Health Profile Report published by Rutgers 
University, air quality changes, such as increased ground-level ozone 
and fine particulate matter changes in the air, will cause a rise in 
respiratory illness, cardiovascular disease, and mortality. Extreme 
heat and increasingly frequent heat waves will exacerbate people's 
existing medical conditions and cause more heat-related deaths. Changes 
to our ecosystem caused by increased humidity and higher temperatures 
will spread pests and infectious diseases.

  The vulnerability will not be equal. The people most at risk are 
people least able to migrate to safety. The elderly, young children, 
and people with existing medical conditions, poorer residents, urban 
residents, people of color, and laborers are all the people who are 
most at risk.
  The Trump administration and our GOP colleagues can keep their heads 
buried in the sand or they can work alongside countless people in 
government, academia, business, and civil society to mitigate the 
effects of climate change. To borrow a warning from a coauthor of the 
U.S. climate assessment: ``It's absolutely not too late to take action. 
But costs will really start skyrocketing if we don't start reining in 
emissions.''
  Mr. Speaker, my Democratic colleagues and I are ready to pursue a 
greener future for our people. We are ready to transition to cleaner 
energy sources. We are ready to make sure auto emissions standards 
reflect 21st century technology. We are ready to make sure all 
Americans have access to clean air, clean water, and high-quality 
healthcare. The question is: Will our Republican friends join us?
  Mr. Speaker, I want to once again commend Mr. Garamendi for always 
having these timely Special Order hours on issues that are critical to 
us at this time. The gentleman never misses a beat in terms of bringing 
issues to the floor that are relevant, important, and need to be 
addressed as soon as possible.
  Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, in the gentleman's discussion, Mr. Payne 
hit upon a really important issue, and it relates to this. I brought 
this up because this is where I am coming from on public policy.
  When FDR said that it is whether we provide enough for those who have 
too little, normally we think about this in terms of economics, we 
think about in terms of wages, living standards, and the like. But you 
hit this squarely, because it is those who have little who are going to 
be the first and most terribly impacted by climate change.
  You talked about the vulnerable. You talked about the elderly, the 
young, the working class, and communities of color. Those who have the 
least will be the least able to adapt. They won't be able to afford the 
additional electric bill for air-conditioning. They are the most likely 
to get sick from the various new illnesses that will work their way 
into the American healthcare system. As the climate warms, we can 
expect to have more tropical, hot weather illnesses coming. We see it 
already. West Nile virus is the example that you gave.
  So this is very, very relevant. I don't think FDR had in mind climate 
change when he talked about this. This is what

[[Page H9662]]

he talked about during the Great Depression. This is relevant today in 
the era of climate change not just here in the United States, but you 
look at the poor around the world.
  For the population of Bangladesh, one of the poorest countries in the 
world, it is likely that 50 percent or more of that population will 
have to move because of sea level rise.
  Ethiopia, where Patti and I served as Peace Corps volunteers, has 
always been plagued by famine as a result of the climate moving back 
and forth. It will get worse.
  So do we provide enough for those who have too little? Across the 
world this is a key issue.
  Joining me now is my colleague from California. He and I get to share 
the great Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the greatest estuary on the 
west coast of the Western Hemisphere.
  Before I come to Mr. McNerney, I am going to put up one of your 
favorite things here for him to look at, because I know this is what 
gets him really excited--clean energy systems. This has been his life's 
work, and he can talk about it. When he finishes, we will talk a little 
bit more about some of these.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. McNerney).
  Mr. McNERNEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman, my friend, for 
yielding.
  I want to thank my colleagues here tonight, Mr. Payne, Mr. Schneider, 
and especially Mr. Garamendi, who has been an absolute fierce advocate 
for action on climate and other issues. He is untiring, and I really 
have a lot of respect and admiration for that.
  Let me talk a little bit about the report first. This is a scientific 
report. It was created over a period of years by scientists. It is not 
an opinion paper. It is a paper that is based on facts, and it is based 
on modeling.
  If you do modeling, then you know what happens is you create a model. 
You test it against the facts. You adjust the model. You test it 
against the facts. You adjust it, and you reiterate until your model is 
pretty accurate. Then you make predictions.
  That is what has happened here. They have some very well-tested 
models that are predicting very bad things. So it is an important piece 
of scientific literature, and I think science should be at least 
involved in the decisionmaking in our great country.
  Now, I think it is almost laughable that the administration tried to 
limit the exposure of this report by putting it out on Black Friday. I 
guess that didn't work because a lot of people are excited in a 
negative way about this report and what it says.
  I think most Americans recognize that there is a problem here. Most 
all Americans recognize it, especially the millennials and the younger 
Americans. They know because it is going to affect their lives. Their 
lives are going to be directly affected more and more as we go forward, 
so they are very engaged in this issue.
  I think everyone knows in their hearts that there is a problem here, 
but I think one of the things that is a challenge is: How do we move 
forward on this?
  People don't like change. People like to assume that their lives are 
going to go on, and they will do things the way they have always done 
them. But I think one of the things they are worried about is jobs.

                              {time}  2030

  Well, let's talk about that for a second. Mr. Garamendi mentioned 
that I worked on windmills. I worked on windmills for 25 years. I 
climbed a lot of windmills. It is a pretty exciting thing to do. You 
are up there working on something that is cool. You are looking down on 
the natural environment around you. If I was a coal miner, I would say: 
That is a pretty good alternative to going down into coals mine and 
breathing dust as to go up on windmills--kind of cold sometimes--but to 
go up on windmills and work your heart out and create clean energy.
  So another thing to think about is the number of jobs per energy 
produced. Renewable energies create a lot more jobs per unit of energy 
produced. That is an important consideration.
  So why can't we move forward?
  I think the economy is going to improve if we reduce our consumption 
of fossil fuels. It will create jobs. It will make the environment 
cleaner. We will have less health impacts than we are seeing from 
fossil fuels, from coal, from oil, and certainly see a lot less climate 
impacts.
  There are a lot of really good reasons to move forward on this. I 
think if you can look at what America and the world would be like if we 
weaned ourselves off fossil fuels, it is a beautiful picture. We will 
have a lot of clean energy. We will have people employed. We will have 
people using electricity for transportation. We will have energy 
generated from windmills, solar, geothermal, and from all of these 
technologies that are there today that are economic and cost-effective. 
In fact, wind and solar are more than competitive with fossil fuels. 
You can produce more energy per cost of energy with wind and solar than 
you can with oil and coal.
  They say natural gas is a great transition fuel, but if you only lose 
2 percent of natural gas emissions in the process of creating energy, 
then you are already undoing the energy efficiency advantage of natural 
gas because natural gas methane is so effective as a climate change 
gas.
  I think we have a lot to look forward to if we determine and decide 
that we are going to move forward with this transition.
  One last thing. I want to say I have a challenge to the President.
  Mr. President, we know that climate change is happening. If you want 
to go down as a great President, if you want to go down in history as 
someone that changed history, as someone who changed history for the 
better, than embrace climate change action. Make a difference.
  Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, before the gentleman leaves, I brought 
this up because I know that these wind turbines, these windmills are 
part of the gentleman's life. You spent, as you say 25, 26 years 
building these systems. I believe he was doing it in Altamont Pass in 
California, which is now part of his district and adjacent to mine.
  It was 1978, 1979 that California passed the very first laws in the 
nation to provide a State tax credit for wind, solar, and conservation. 
I was the author of that law. The gentleman and I go back a long, long 
way here on this issue, Mr. Speaker, and we are not going to give up. 
As he said, it is about the next generation.
  I have got here on my phone, which I know I cannot use on the floor, 
so I am not going to turn it on, but I have a picture of my 13th 
grandchild, who was born yesterday. It is those children, that young 
boy and his generation, that will either curse us or thank us. Thank us 
because we had the courage, we had the wisdom to attack this problem; 
or curse us because we didn't.
  I believe that we have the wisdom. We have people like Mr. McNerney 
who has spent his life working on this, both in the private sector and 
now in Congress. I thank him so very much for that determination to 
address this critical issue. I thank him for joining us tonight.
  I have noticed the East-West show is back in town. Mr. Tonko and I 
started doing this 7 years ago. Climate change and energy issues were 
what we talked about back then. This was some of his work when he was 
working in the State government in New York City, as I recall. Not that 
he always talked about it on the floor, but he occasionally would point 
out that he was working, trying to create the new technologies that 
would address this problem. I thank him for joining us this evening.
  Mr. TONKO. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Garamendi for leading 
us in this Special Order that speaks to an urgency.
  More and more, people are beginning to recognize that it is within 
our responsibility to provide for the stewardship of our Earth, of the 
environment, and to pass it on to generations coming. As you just 
acknowledged the birth of a grandson, congratulations to Mr. Garamendi 
and his wife, Patti. It is important, it is incumbent upon us to do 
that.
  When we see the denial and the disregard--the denial for science, for 
climate change as a concept; the disregard for the Earth, the 
environment, and for public health--it is troublesome.
  Here we have in recent weeks heard about and presented the U.N. 
report through the IPCC, the international committee that looks at 
climate change, and they are indicating that

[[Page H9663]]

there is precious little time, if any, by which to act--a timeframe 
that is becoming more and more urgent.
  It is so important for us to address the science of this issue, to 
look at the stats, to look at the data that is compelling, that speaks 
to everything from public health to job creation to a greening up of 
our thinking so that our policy and our resource advocacy will go 
toward what is a crisis situation.
  Just very, very recent, we have witnessed a report on the climate 
that is under the auspices of the Trump administration where they have 
responded to the United States Global Change Research Program, a 
Presidential initiative started by President Ronald Reagan that 
incorporates, I believe, some 13 agencies and their thinking about 
climate change. Members of his own cabinet are recommending and 
advising and he is rejecting.

  I simply don't understand how we can ask people to utilize their 
expertise, invest their time and energy into forecasting where we are 
going to be and where we are, acknowledging where we are, and the work 
that is needed, and then to walk away from that presentation based on 
facts and science and data.
  You have witnessed at your end of the country what has happened with 
wildfires. I have seen 500-year storms three or four times over in a 
decade. So the nomenclature is even off target. We are witnessing 
tremendous damage, loss of lives, property damage, and farming impacts 
with very rich soil being washed away, erosion of our coastal zones. 
What more do we need to have as evidence?
  The Department of Defense; the farming community; the business 
community; States like California, the gentleman's home state; and New 
York, my home State, get it. We pull out of a Paris accord because we 
are not going to be part of an international community--the only 
industrial nation to pull out of that accord?
  It is revolting that we will not respond to this issue. As you 
indicated, we have been talking about this, we have been pushing this 
leadership since 2010 with the takeover of the House. We began our 
efforts in 2008 and 2009. We needed to continue to move forward. The 
efforts to go forward have been thwarted by a resistance to addressing 
this issue. I find it unacceptable.
  As we look upon the next few weeks before we take over with the 
majority in the House, we need to set a very ambitious tone that will 
move us forward with a number of issues being addressed under the 
umbrella of climate change. We have witnessed what has happened out 
there with the economy. We have calculated the hundreds of billions of 
dollars that are impacted because of public health costs, the damage to 
property, and the like.
  We need to move forward. We need to do this based on science and 
factual evidence that is available, that is at our fingertips. The time 
for denial is over. The time for disregard is over. The time for action 
is now. And we need to move forward, even asking as ranker on the 
Environment Subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee for 
hearings in this regard, just hearings so that we can take testimony 
and advance the cause of the action that is required. Those requests 
have been falling on deaf ears.
  So we need to do better. We need to move forward with a sound plan 
and to understand that across the country more and more people are 
expressing their concern about climate change. They are witnessing it 
in the news every night. These wildfires have been greater in number, 
in severity. I believe this is probably the worst in history. So we 
need to do a lot more.
  Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Tonko said something a moment ago 
that I know will happen. He is presently the ranking member of the 
Environment Subcommittee of Energy and Commerce. In about 1 month I 
believe he is going to be the chairman of that committee. The hearings 
on this issue, the Fourth Annual Climate Assessment, will finally be 
heard and the issue will finally be before the Congress.
  It has been 8 long years of denial by the Republican-led Congress and 
2 years by the current President. I know that in his role--and I 
believe he will be the chairperson of that committee--he will make sure 
that America and the Congress know and understand this critical issue. 
I look forward to those hearings. I look forward to his leadership on 
it, and once again to be on the floor with the gentleman with what we 
fondly call the East Coast West-Coast program. We are back.
  Mr. TONKO. Absolutely. Coast-to-coast this is an issue. We know that 
where there are innovative concepts, where there is an embracing of an 
aggressive agenda like in California, like in New York, there are ways 
to advance green energy, clean energy, innovation when it comes to 
efficiency, to make certain that those greenhouse gas emissions are 
addressed. It is within our control.
  So the human activity here, the human element, yes, is driving some 
of this. I know there are those who say I believe in climate change, 
but not human-inspired. Whether or not you believe that to be true, is 
it so bad to make cleaner the air we breathe, safer the water we drink, 
remediate the soils we require? These are important factors that can 
grow significant jobs in research, prototype development, and in 
product design.
  So let's move forward. The evidence is compelling. The temperatures 
have risen some 1.7 degrees Fahrenheit since 1901. That is major 
change. The warming, in large part, is due to human activity. The 
continuation of burning fossil fuels, adding to the greenhouse gas 
emissions out there, is unacceptable.
  Sixteen of the last 17 years are the warmest years on record. And 
there are those saying: Well, it's just a cycle. Well, that is a long 
stretch of time. There is no sign out there that it is going to stop. 
There is no pause there as a warning.
  Basically, the science that we have today, technology continues to 
advance in a way that enables us to have shelf-ready opportunity, the 
cleverness, the intellect that we harvest in this country, the 
intellect that allows us to design and understand concepts like 
capturing waste heat so that we can get more energy out of traditional 
designs, is a way to advance this cause.
  The green power that the gentleman just talked about with my fellow 
colleague from California, Representative McNerney, these are real. 
They are not pie in the sky. They are happening as we speak. We just 
have to show the will and break the pattern that has been just too 
comfortable for us to go forward and say: Oh, well, it is greenhouse 
gas emissions. And, yes, there is a lot of damage out there, but that 
should be telling us we are already paying for greenhouse gas 
emissions, we are already paying for climate change, and we need to 
change that saga.
  Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, indeed, we are paying for it in so many 
way. I showed earlier the fires, the floods, the sea level rise that is 
already occurring, the storm surge that recently affected the Panhandle 
of Florida. All of these things are the reality of today. And it is not 
going to go away.
  The gentleman cited several facts. This is one of our programs that 
we used 8 years ago. It is this slide. Eight years ago we used this in 
our Make It in America presentations and we talked about the wind 
turbines and solar. That is actually an electric bus made by a bus 
manufacturer in California, the Gillig company. They are using that. 
These electric buses are part of the future, as are electric cars.

                              {time}  2045

  All of these are the new jobs. These are the new technologies. These 
are where people will be going to work. So that is where the jobs are. 
These are jobs that won't be exported. These are American jobs. The 
maintenance of this, all of these things are available today.
  The gentleman mentioned California. Yes, California is way out in 
front, really, competing with New York on who can be the best to 
decarbonize, to move away from it.
  Unfortunately, the administration is going exactly the wrong 
direction. The President wants to do away with the mileage standards, 
the fuel mileage standards for automobiles, wants to reintroduce coal 
back into the economy, which is the worst of all energy sources. We 
don't need to do that.
  We can do it. We have proven that it can be done, in California and 
other places, in other parts of the world. We cannot go backwards. We 
owe it to the future generations.

[[Page H9664]]

  

  Mr. TONKO. Mr. Speaker, as Mr. Garamendi presented that panel with 
Make It In America, it reminds me that, as you solve this crisis, as 
you speak to carbon pollution, you are going across so many policy 
areas: economic development, transportation, health, job training, 
certainly science and technology, energy and commerce. All of these 
disciplines. It just travels across all of these areas of activity 
because the solution is multifaceted. We need to do that.
  I talk to folks who will say: Gee, my newborn, or the youngest of our 
family, is struggling with asthma. And they are saying: I hear that 
asthma is up.
  I say: Well, have you related it to carbon pollution?
  The public health cost, the public health impact here is tremendous. 
So, as we work on this, we are allowing for policy in so many different 
areas to take hold so that we can go forward with an inclusivity that 
allows for a lot of work to be done, which generates jobs, oftentimes 
with research. And research equals jobs--sound, paying jobs.
  Mr. GARAMENDI. Exactly.
  Mr. Speaker, Mr. Tonko mentioned asthma. We Democrats campaigned on a 
better deal for the people, which I just happened to put up here: A 
better deal for the people.
  We talked about healthcare. Asthma is a preexisting condition. We 
have a challenge to deal with the Affordable Care Act and the 
Republican attempt to reinstitute insurance companies being able to 
discriminate based upon preexisting conditions.
  All of these things will tie back: job creation, new technologies, 
research, healthcare. All of this, in one way or another, comes back to 
this question of climate change. So we need to address it.
  Mr. TONKO. Mr. Speaker, let me just address some of those that aren't 
as clearly connected.
  Mr. Garamendi talks about the need to address public health and to 
address that bending of the cost curve for healthcare. Well, wellness 
is an important part. If we can reduce the number of asthma cases, we 
are doing a big share of the activity that is required.
  Also, one would never expect, perhaps, that the Department of Defense 
would be out front on this issue. Why? Because they see a population 
boom around the world, and they see eroding land and crop failure 
because of drought.
  Well, they see that as civil unrest. They see it as a situation that 
can be damaging to the world community. That civil unrest is of great 
concern to the Department of Defense.
  So there are these dynamics that seem so disconnected from this 
overall topic of carbon pollution. And, yes, when people are faced with 
that direct question--Where are you on carbon pollution?--of course it 
is the logical thing: Reduce it. Reduce it.
  It doesn't take that much of an effort. It takes the will to go 
forward and relate to energy efficiency, relate to greening up our 
policy, relate to renewable energy, battery development as a linchpin 
that can provide more certainty and predictability. We have it within 
our capacity, and I am convinced we will move forward as a House come 
January addressing this issue that has languished for far too long.
  Mr. Speaker, I again thank the gentleman for leading us in this 
discussion this evening. It is critical; it is vitally important; it 
will save dollars; and it will grow jobs.
  Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Tonko very much for joining 
us.
  This issue is about those of us who are here today, but it is, far 
more importantly, about those who will be in the future.
  I want to dedicate this hour to a very special person, our new 
grandson, Grady Christopher Bardet, who was born yesterday afternoon.
  Mr. TONKO. Congratulations.
  Mr. GARAMENDI. He will live in the future, either a very good future 
that we and our colleagues here build for him, or one that is not.
  To Faith and Eric Bardet, we love you. Thank you for this beautiful 
gift.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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