[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 120 (Wednesday, July 20, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H6886-H6887]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 CLIMATE CHANGE IS NOT A PARTISAN ISSUE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Deutch) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DEUTCH. Madam Speaker, over 6 years ago, our former colleague 
Carlos Curbelo and I launched the Climate Solutions Caucus to have a 
bipartisan effort to address climate change. We did it because where we 
live in south Florida, climate change is not a partisan issue.
  Republican and Democratic leaders alike, Republican and Democratic 
business leaders and elected officials, all understand that sunny-day 
flooding, and sea-level rise brought by climate change are happening 
right now, and we need to respond to it.

                              {time}  1015

  So we launched action here to try to responsibly address climate 
change, just as so many are in South Florida and around the country. 
The 7 years that we have just endured are the 7 hottest years on 
record. In 2021, the U.S. endured over 20 weather disasters, costing a 
billion dollars or more. Hurricanes, and floods, and wildfires, all of 
them made worst by climate change.
  Last year, there were at least 688 people who died in the United 
States attributed to climate change: $150 billion in damage.
  And so where are we now?
  Well, our country and our world are reeling from the devastating 
impact of climate change. For the first time ever, temperatures in the 
U.K. exceeded 104 degrees; Ireland hit record highs of over 90 degrees; 
Portugal 117. More than 1,100 people in Spain and Portugal died in this 
heat wave.
  Wildfires are scorching Europe. More than 100 million people in the 
U.S. have

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been under a heat alert. A mega drought is gripping our West and 
Southwest, drying up critical sources of fresh water and addressing our 
demands for electrical power. And a deep drought has much of North 
Africa on the edge of famine.
  This has happened in one week. Yet, these heat waves will become more 
frequent and intense for decades to come. We will continue to see the 
intense heat waves that have been scorching Europe and the U.S. put 
immense pressure on our infrastructure and continue to put lives at 
risk.
  Madam Speaker, we need innovators and entrepreneurs in climate tech. 
We need young people to stand up and demand a world that will be safe 
for them. We need the Biden administration, and we need this Congress.
  My colleagues, we need to be bold. It is not about comfort. It is not 
about staying cool. For people across the globe right now, at this 
moment, it is and continues to be about survival. It is time for us to 
act on climate change. The future of our planet depends on us.

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