[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 164 (Thursday, October 17, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S5858]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              S.J. RES. 53

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, now on climate, as Senator Cardin well 
knows, later the Senate will vote on his resolution of disapproval to 
repeal the Trump administration's so-called affordable clean energy 
rule. This is one of the few opportunities where the minority can force 
a vote on the Senate floor, and there may be no more worthy an issue 
than protecting our environment.
  Four years ago, the Obama administration put in place new standards 
and safeguards for CO2 and fossil fuel emissions from 
powerplants--the first of their kind intended to meet the threat of 
climate change. Earlier in July, by employing shady science, the Trump 
administration so violently obliterated these safeguards protecting our 
globe, our world, and frankly a lot of the forests in my home State of 
New York. In its place, the Trump administration enacted a new rule 
that will allow big polluters to wreck our air, dirty our water, and 
poison our Earth with little or no accountability.
  Thanks to this new rule, commonsense limits on carbon emissions have 
been blurred, and deadlines for implementing the reductions have now 
been tripled or even quadrupled, but time is running out for the United 
States to meet the existential threat posed by climate change. That is 
why this rule is such a grave mistake.
  Thankfully, in this case, the minority can do something under the 
Congressional Review Act. We are allowed to overturn some of the rules 
this administration unilaterally put in place. Later this morning, we 
will vote on Senator Cardin's resolution of disapproval, which, if 
passed, will repeal the Trump's administration's destructive rule and 
reinstitute the safeguards that were originally in place.
  Our Republican colleagues have a choice. They can either stop the 
rollback of lifesaving environmental protections or they can side with 
energy companies that put their fortunes ahead of our future. The 
choice is theirs.

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