[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 194 (Thursday, November 4, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H6186-H6187]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              CLIMATE RESILIENCE IN THE FACE OF DISASTERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, over this past week, it has been 
heartening to see the climate pledges and vows coming out of Glasgow. 
Our success in Glasgow, however, will not come from voluntary pledges 
and vows. It must include specific, effective steps that can be put in 
place now to begin making a difference.
  I have worked on the climate issue since 1991 when I was a member of 
the city council that enacted the Nation's first carbon commitments 
which we have met over those years. But the cascade of recent 
extraordinary weather events has made it clear--as if we needed further 
reminders--that we are entering a new era in terms of impact and public 
awareness of climate disasters.
  The Oregon experience has been searing. We had the worst air quality 
in the world last year due to extreme forest fires. And in my district 
when we set an all-time heat record of 116 degrees this summer after 
setting two other previous all-time highs, we recorded temperatures of 
180 degrees in the heart of my district. No wonder hundreds of people 
died.

  Working on these issues for years, we have had some successes, but we 
can no longer afford to be nibbling around the edges. We need bold, 
transformative action to meet the scale of this problem. We must 
continue to fight to reduce emissions and improve our resilience by 
passing the Build Back Better Act and the bipartisan infrastructure 
bill together.
  But as we undertake that enormous effort, we must also undertake the 
massive issues of community preparedness, resilience, and risk 
mitigation. We can start with some of the basics: stop allowing new 
development in risky places like the fire zone, the urban-rural 
interface, or areas with high flood risk. We must deal with repetitive 
flood loss in a more thoughtful way, including paying to remove 
properties and people to ensure that the vulnerable aren't stranded in 
high-risk areas.
  We must enhance the protections of the Stafford Act and help FEMA 
address the challenges of today's climate. FEMA does not actually have 
a mandate to deal with the extreme heat like we had in Portland that 
was killing people. We must empower cities and States to be both 
proactive and realistic in their approaches to planning,

[[Page H6187]]

development, and hazard mitigation. We must radically approach our 
agriculture and deforestation to stop making it worse.
  I have introduced legislation that would make it illegal for products 
that were grown on illegally deforested land--palm oil, soy, and 
cocoa--from entering the stream of commerce, and having a border 
adjustment tax will make a big difference to stop people from exporting 
their carbon pollution.
  Above all, we must mitigate climate change with an emphasis on 
equity, and we should harness the forces of nature to heal the land and 
reduce carbon. It is more effective, and it is cheaper. Instead of 
putting off much-needed policy changes, this will only delay the 
inevitable and make the adjustments more difficult as we reap the 
consequences of decades of inaction and denial.
  Yes, it is going to take massive investments. But we are already 
making massive investments. The biggest infrastructure program now, the 
Federal Government, is paying to clean up after natural disasters. We 
should take some of that revenue stream and instead invest in 
mitigation and recovery that will make us stronger going forward.
  Over the past months, I have worked to try and assemble my thoughts, 
talking to experts and thinking about what would make a difference. I 
have a little report I call ``From Ruin to Resilience: Protecting 
Communities and Preventing Disaster.'' I look forward to discussing 
this with my colleagues to understand their issues and things that we 
can do together on a scale that this challenge demands.
  Mr. Speaker, I look forward to progress and discussion in Glasgow, 
but, more importantly, I look forward to progress and action here in 
Congress and in our communities. Our future and our children's future 
depend on it.

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