[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 125 (Tuesday, July 22, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H3548-H3549]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              CLIMATE CRISIS IS A PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY

  (Ms. DEXTER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. DEXTER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to declare that climate 
crisis is a public health emergency, and the Federal Government must 
treat it as such.

[[Page H3549]]

  In the last decade, more than half of the 120 public health emergency 
declarations issued by the Department of Health and Human Services were 
a result of climate-related events: extreme heat, wildfire smoke, 
hurricanes, floods, and the spread of disease.
  Last week, I introduced the Climate Health Emergency Act to address 
this reality head-on. It directs the Secretary of the Department of 
Health and Human Services to declare the climate crisis a public health 
emergency.
  This declaration will unlock emergency powers and coordination to 
allow an effective response to the rapidly escalating public health 
threat posed by climate change. Enabling interagency coordination, this 
bill will break down silos, maximizing our ability to effectively and 
efficiently respond.
  As a lung and critical care physician, I have seen the direct harm 
climate change has on our patients: organs shutting down from heat 
exposure and lungs failing from smoke inhalation. I will not stand by 
silently as our government continues to fail to meet this crisis with 
the urgency it so demands.
  Madam Speaker, I urge your support. Our children deserve a healthy 
future. Our job is to fight for it.

                          ____________________