[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 176 (Tuesday, November 5, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S6372]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                             Climate Change

  Now, climate--yesterday, the Trump administration formally sent a 
notice to the UN that the United States will withdraw from the Paris 
Agreement in 2020. In the long list of dangerous policy decisions that 
President Trump has advanced over the years, this ranks as one of the 
very, very worst.
  Future generations will look back on this decision as a dramatic step 
backward in the fight to address climate change. Future generations 
would note this date and how it hurt our planet, our economy, and our 
national security in the decades that followed.
  President Trump has been an enemy of climate science in ways that no 
other President has been. Before becoming President, he called climate 
change a hoax, and unfortunately, his Presidency has treated it like 
one. He has stuffed his administration to the brim with lobbyists for 
Big Oil and Big Coal; he has crippled the Federal Government's ability 
to research climate change. He rolled back emission standards and used 
fake science to underreport the effects of climate change.
  Instead of protecting the interests of the people, President Trump 
has catered shamelessly to the interests of oil companies and corporate 
polluters. History will look harshly on President Trump's failure to 
lead the United States through our planet's climate crisis, and they 
will equally look on the Republican Senators who have just stood mute 
as he has done this.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the quorum 
call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.