[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 37 (Thursday, February 28, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1599-S1600]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. CARPER (for himself, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Markey, Mr. Coons, 
        Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Jones, Mr. Schatz, Mr. Booker, Mr. Schumer, 
        Mr. Bennet,

[[Page S1600]]

        Mr. Reed, Mr. Van Hollen, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. Murphy, Mr. 
        Manchin, Mr. Heinrich, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Brown, Mrs. Murray, 
        Mrs. Feinstein, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Blumenthal, Mrs. Gillibrand, 
        Mr. Cardin, Mr. Warner, Mr. Leahy, Ms. Rosen, Ms. Smith, Mr. 
        Wyden, Mrs. Shaheen, Ms. Hirono, Ms. Duckworth, Mr. Durbin, Ms. 
        Hassan, Mr. Casey, Mr. Peters, Mr. Menendez, Ms. Cortez Masto, 
        Mr. Sanders, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Tester, Ms. Harris, Ms. Cantwell, 
        Ms. Sinema, Ms. Warren, Mr. King, and Mr. Udall):
  S.J. Res. 9. A joint resolution calling on the United States and 
Congress to take immediate action to address the challenge of climate 
change; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I am joined this morning by a group of my 
Democratic colleagues to talk about the greatest threat facing our 
country and our planet--climate change. Despite the gravity and scale 
of the problem, at no time in the past 5 years have Republicans brought 
even a single bill to the floor to meaningfully address climate change. 
They brought CRAs to the floor to repeal critical environmental 
protections that limited the emission of greenhouse gases like methane. 
They brought legislation to open up more Federal lands to oil drilling, 
but they haven't brought forward a single meaningful bill to address 
climate change.
  Ironically, the first bill Leader McConnell would bring to the floor 
on climate change is a bill that he and his party intend to vote 
against. What a ridiculous sham; what a pathetic political stunt. It 
would be a stunt on its own from a leader who just a month ago claimed 
he didn't bring sham bills to the floor, but it is an even greater 
stunt because they have nothing positive to say about dealing with this 
climate crisis.
  So today, Democrats will be introducing a resolution to steer the 
direction of this conversation about climate change back in the right 
direction--all 47 Democrats, every single one.
  We are introducing a resolution that affirms three simple things: 
First, climate change is real; second, climate change is changed by 
human activity; and third, Congress must act immediately to address 
this problem. These are three simple things--three things that the vast 
majority of the American people agree with. Two are plain facts, and 
the third is just a statement that Congress should take action in light 
of those two facts.
  Our resolution does not prescribe what action we should take. It 
doesn't say that someone has to be for this solution or that solution. 
It simply states that climate change is happening, and we ought to do 
something about it. It is like saying that opioid abuse is a problem, 
and we should do something. Surely every Senator agrees with that.
  In an ideal world, every single Republican Senator would sign on to 
our climate change resolution because there should be nothing 
controversial about it at all. But because one political party in 
America largely denies the science or, as I am sure my colleague from 
Rhode Island will address, is so in the pocket of Big Oil that it 
refuses to admit the severity of it, I suspect many of our Republican 
colleagues will not sign on, and what a shame--what a shame--that would 
be. At least the American people will know which of their Senators 
denies the overwhelming consensus of the scientific community.
  So if and when Leader McConnell moves to proceed to the Green New 
Deal, Democrats will demand a vote on our resolution, and we will see 
if Leader McConnell is so eager to take that vote.
  Again, I have asked him every day; I asked him earlier this morning: 
Leader McConnell, do you believe climate change is real? Leader 
McConnell, do you believe it is caused by human activity? And, Leader 
McConnell, do you believe Congress has to act to deal with climate 
change? We have simply heard silence from the leader and from just 
about every other Republican so far.
  So we are going to push this resolution, and we hope the American 
people will let their Senators who are not on this resolution know that 
they should be on it. It is the first step to moving something in a 
positive direction because we intend to go on offense on climate.
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