[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 156 (Thursday, September 26, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S5740]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             CLIMATE CHANGE

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am pleased that the fiscal year 2020 
appropriations bill for the Department of State and Foreign Operations 
was reported unanimously by the committee earlier today. There is a 
great deal in the bill that the American people can feel good about, as 
the summaries released by both the majority and minority indicate. 
However, as is always the case with bipartisan legislation, there are 
also things that I wish were not in the bill, and there are things 
missing from the bill that I wish had been included. I want to speak 
about one of those.
  I deeply regret that the bill does not even mention the words 
``climate change.'' That is remarkable, or perhaps a better word is 
``appalling,'' when one considers the existential threat that climate 
change poses for every living thing on Earth. If Democrats were in the 
majority, funding for programs to combat global warming and adapt to 
climate change would be a priority in the bill. Instead, it is 
completely missing.
  An example is the Green Climate Fund, GCF, which was created in 2010 
with the active participation of the United States. Its mission is to 
respond to climate change by investing in low-emission and climate-
resilient development. The GCF was established to limit or reduce 
greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries and to help vulnerable 
societies adapt to the unavoidable impacts of climate change. The 
United States contributed a total of $1 billion in the first 2 years of 
operation of the GCF.
  Then President Trump was elected. Even though, according to press 
reports, the Trump Organization had previously cited climate change in 
its application for a permit to build a barrier to protect a Trump golf 
course from the rising sea level and increasingly powerful storms, he 
continues to publicly refuse to recognize climate change as a serious 
threat. Despite that hypocrisy and overwhelming scientific recognition 
of the impact of burning fossil fuels on the Earth's climate, the Trump 
White House withdrew from the Paris climate agreement and opposed 
further U.S. funding for the GCF. Republican majorities in the Congress 
fell into line, and in the past two appropriations bills, there has 
been no funding for a U.S. contribution to the GCF.
  The next replenishment for the GCF is scheduled for 2020. Since there 
are no funds in the bill just reported by the Appropriations Committee 
for a U.S. contribution to the GCF, absent an about-face by the White 
House, the United States will not make a replenishment pledge. It will 
be left to other countries to ensure that the GCF continues to operate. 
Once again, U.S. leadership to address what many believe to be the most 
ominous threat facing the world is nowhere to be seen.
  Despite that inexcusable failure by the White House and the 
Republican leadership in Congress, it is important to emphasize that 
overwhelmingly the American people recognize the threat that climate 
change poses and they want strong action to address it. They see what 
is happening here and around the world, as extreme climatic events--
hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, droughts, and forest fires, coupled 
with crop failures, displacement of people whose homes and livelihoods 
are destroyed, and unprecedented migration flows--become more and more 
frequent and destructive. They rightly fear that if we fail to act, not 
long from now, these types of disasters will be exponentially worse, 
and they worry about the chaos this would cause for their children and 
grandchildren.
  I mention this because I am confident that as soon as we have a 
President who puts the lives of future generations above the profits 
and campaign contributions of the fossil fuel companies, the United 
States will once again become a leader against climate change and a 
leading contributor to the GCF. Other countries should understand this. 
Despite President Trump and his cheerleaders in Congress, the United 
States has not turned its back on the threat of climate change, nor 
have we abandoned the GCF. Presidents come and go, and while U.S. 
support for diplomacy and programs to combat climate change is 
currently suspended, the American people, and especially the younger 
generation, will make sure that suspension is only temporary.

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