[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 103 (Thursday, June 18, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2924-S2925]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                 Unanimous Consent Request--S. Res. 554

  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I think it is virtually undisputed, 
among people who are not on fossil fuel's payroll, that climate change 
is real. Earlier this year, I came to the floor, and I asked my 
colleagues if they could all agree on that simple, scientific fact. 
Well, unfortunately, they could not.
  So I came back. I returned to the floor in hopes that my Republican 
colleagues could, at least, agree to some of the simple truths that 
make up the bigger picture of climate change. I asked if we could 
agree, for instance, that sea levels are rising due to carbon 
emissions--again, essentially zero dispute on that fact in the 
scientific community--but Republicans objected.
  I asked if we could agree that oceans are warming. Oceans are warming 
by multiple zettajoules. That is a number with 21 zeros behind it. It 
is a massive, massive measured scientific fact. And yet Republicans 
sent someone to the floor to object.
  Again, there is essentially no nonfossil fuel-funded science 
disputing any of this. And I have to put the fossil fuel-funded science 
in air quotes because it is not real science. It is just designed to 
look like science and tell a lie in scientific vocabulary.
  So if the environmental realities are too much for the Senate to 
acknowledge, perhaps my colleagues will at least recognize the economic 
threats that are emerging.
  So here is today's simple truth: Climate change is driving up the 
cost of homeowners insurance. Can we agree on that?
  Well, let me break down why we should agree on that. Climate change 
drives extreme weather disasters, including hurricanes and floods and 
wildfires. Disasters like those destroy homes and destroy 
infrastructure, and all that destruction carries a heavy cost.
  Before the Trump administration stopped the practice in 2025, NOAA--
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration--actually used to 
track the costs of this destruction every year. Thanks to NOAA, we have 
all this data going back that shows that climate disasters and climate 
costs have been increasing--quite dramatically, actually.
  This chart draws on NOAA data from before 2025 and other aggregated 
data since that, and it shows that the increase in climate change-
driven weather has been very notable between 1980 and today--from here 
up to here.
  Costs of the disasters spike in particular years, depending on the 
type of disasters and where the impacts occurred. Hurricanes Harvey, 
Maria, and Irma made 2017--here, that--the costliest year on record. 
But setting aside the spikes, the average cost is steadily increasing, 
along with the frequency of disasters.
  And these costs fall first where? On the insurance companies.
  In 2023, insurers lost money in 18 of 50 States. That is an increase 
from 12 States 5 years previously and 8 States in 2013--8 to 12 to 18. 
The losses to insurers are also increasing.
  To offset these climate-driven losses, insurance companies raised 
their premiums. And, sure enough, from 2013 to 2022, home insurance 
premiums more than doubled, rising to be over 20 percent of mortgage 
payments, on average.
  When a family starts with a pretty big payment like their home 
insurance payment and it then doubles, that is a big hit to the 
family's finances.
  We know this increase isn't just inflation because insurance premiums 
are increasing 40 percent faster than inflation. We know that this cost 
increase is driven by climate change, and we know it because the 
numbers don't lie. You can look at the areas with the highest climate 
risk, and you see that the cost increases most in those counties, the 
ones at most risk from climate change. The largest increases in 
insurance rates between 2014 and 2023 happened in the highest climate 
risk areas--obvious and true.
  In high-risk States like Florida and Louisiana, premiums are 
estimated to average more than $14,000 and $11,000 respectively. That 
is not by accident. That is because those low-lying States are being 
hammered by increasingly violent and wet storms and hurricanes, 
combined with rising sea levels. Both phenomena are driven by climate 
change.
  Higher home insurance means less money to spend on household 
essentials like groceries and gas, which are already more expensive 
than ever.
  But higher insurance rates are not actually a family's worst-case 
scenario. The worst-case home insurance scenario for a family is 
nonrenewal. More and more, in high climate risk counties across the 
country, insurance companies, unwilling to take on this additional 
risk, are refusing to insure homes at all. This is a nightmare for 
homeowners.
  First of all, you have the enormous hassle of having to go out and 
find new insurance, which probably costs more and is worse. But also, 
most lenders won't approve a mortgage unless the borrower also 
purchases insurance. And if the home is uninsurable, guess what. The 
home is unmortgageable, and an unmortgageable home is almost inevitably 
an unsellable home.
  When you lose your insurance, lenders may also force place a new home 
insurance policy on you to replace the policy that was canceled. Force-
placed insurance obviously protects first the lender's interest, not 
the homeowner's property, and it almost always costs much, much more, 
and it covers less. And it is added to the mortgage payment, and that 
can be a huge financial blow to a family.
  All of this added cost and risk means that climate change is dragging 
down home equity value, undermining the primary driver of wealth 
appreciation for America's middle class, and, by the way, reducing 
property tax revenue for things like schools and public safety and 
basic services provided by local government.
  The bottom line here is that climate risk has moved from the science 
department to the economics department, and it has landed hard in home 
insurance, and Americans are paying the price.
  So as if in legislative session and notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask 
unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban 
Affairs be discharged, and the Senate proceed to the immediate 
consideration of S. Res. 554; further, that the resolution be agreed 
to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be 
considered made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Wyoming.
  Ms. LUMMIS. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, this 
resolution asks us to accept, without scrutiny, that correlation equals 
causation.
  It is true that premiums are rising, but this Senate deserves an 
honest accounting of why. Replacement costs are up because Biden-era 
climate regulations drove up the price of lumber, appliances, and 
labor--regulations the Trump administration is now working to unwind 
because of the damage they did.
  When it costs more to build a home, it costs more to insure one. That 
is not a climate story. It is a policy failure story.
  If we are serious about lower premiums, the answer is simple: Build 
more homes that people can afford.
  Every regulation that makes construction more expensive means fewer 
homes are built. Constrained supply drives up values, and higher home 
values mean higher premiums. That is not a partisan talking point. That 
is economics.
  We don't need more climate mandates. We need more housing. And we can 
start by getting the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act to the 
President's desk.
  The resolution being offered today offers us a bumper sticker. 
American homeowners deserve real solutions.
  With that, Mr. President, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The objection is heard.
  The Senator from Rhode Island.
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I would just point out briefly in 
response to my distinguished colleague that an entire industry 
understands that climate risk is driving homeowners insurance.

[[Page S2925]]

  The home insurance industry is actually under both a business model 
requirement and a fiduciary legal obligation to do its very, very best 
to predict risk, figure out what is driving that risk, and act 
accordingly.
  For that reason, we had the president of Aon testify in the Budget 
Committee about how climate risk is damaging insurance markets. We have 
an editorial by a board member of the biggest insurance company in the 
world, Allianz. We have warnings from the risk manager--former risk 
manager--of Goldman Sachs. We have warnings from the former head of the 
Bank of England, now the Prime Minister of Canada. We have warnings 
from the Home Mortgage Association. We have warnings from the 
international Financial Stability Board.
  There is an enormous amount of very solid and responsible data that 
comes not out of the environmental community but out of the financial 
community warning about the looming great climate insurance collapse. 
And if we refuse to pay attention to it, we will fail in our duties.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHATZ. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senator from Hawaii.