[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 140 (Thursday, August 5, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S5892]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             CLIMATE CHANGE

  Mr. SCHUMER. On another matter, climate. President Biden announced 
this morning that he will sign an Executive order to significantly 
escalate our country's fight against climate change.
  Specifically, President Biden's Executive order will set an ambitious 
goal to make half of all new cars sold in America zero emissions by the 
end of the decade. He will announce further steps to address several of 
the worst climate-warming rules that were put in place under the Trump 
administration.
  I applaud President Biden for taking necessary steps to put our 
country on a path to substantially reduce our carbon pollution. Climate 
change is the defining challenge of our times. We have no choice but to 
reduce our country's greenhouse gas emissions very quickly to reach the 
targets that will spare our country and our planet the worst effects of 
climate change, and we cannot do it without dealing with carbon 
pollution from cars we drive. Transportation is the biggest source of 
carbon pollution, accounting for roughly one-third of America's carbon 
output.
  President Biden's Executive order is an important step in the right 
direction, and I am happy and proud to say it dovetails with an effort 
I have long advocated here in the Congress, even before the Biden 
Presidency. It is called Clean Cars for America. In fact, President 
Biden generously adopted our Clean Cars for America plan and placed it 
in his Build Back Better.
  My Clean Cars for America proposal--and I have worked closely with 
Senator Stabenow, Senator Peters, and others on this proposal--would 
help our country make the transition that President Biden is talking 
about today by making electric cars more affordable, expanding our 
charging infrastructure, and creating incentives to manufacture 
batteries and electric vehicles here in America. It is good for 
climate. It good for jobs. And it is good for America to become the 
center of electric car manufacturing in the world, as we have been with 
the traditional type of automobile.
  The proposal--I am proud to say we worked hard to make this happen. 
Clean Cars for America is now, as I said, largely adopted in the Build 
Back Better plan and is supported not only by the environmental 
community, but by the major labor unions and several of the major car 
manufacturers as well. It is the first time on a major piece of climate 
legislation we have gotten such broad support.
  The transition to electric vehicles, of course, is already underway, 
but it is not happening fast enough to reach the targets that President 
Biden announced today. Clean Cars for America is the way to supercharge 
the transition to electric vehicles, and large parts of it will be--
some of it was put in the bipartisan infrastructure bill, but large 
parts of it we hope to add in the reconciliation process.
  Put another way: If President Biden's Executive order represents the 
destination we need to reach on the horizon, our Clean Cars for America 
is the road to get there.
  President Biden's announcement, combined with our Clean Cars 
proposal, represents the bold level of action we need to tackling 
carbon pollution from cars.
  When Democrats assumed the majority, I instructed my committee chairs 
to find climate-reducing policies to incorporate into the legislation 
we work on. Earlier this year, the Senate passed the first major 
climate legislation in years when we reversed the Trump 
administration's methane emissions rule. And as we continue working on 
a bipartisan infrastructure bill and a budget resolution, I have 
committed that we will make historic investments in reversing climate 
change. I am proud to say our Clean Cars for America is going to be a 
very big part of that.
  Democrats promised action on climate, and we are going to make it a 
vital part of the legislation we work on in the weeks to come. It is a 
big challenge, but one we must meet. It is so important for the future 
of our planet, for our children, and our grandchildren even more than 
for us

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