[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 17040]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          SAFE CLIMATE CAUCUS

  (Mr. HUFFMAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. HUFFMAN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to once again speak about 
the issue of climate change that is affecting every country, but as the 
World Bank has found, the impacts are not distributed equally. It is 
likely that the poorest nations on Earth will be the hardest hit.
  The U.N. ranks the Philippines as the country that is third most 
vulnerable to the effects of climate change because of its geography, 
its poverty, and the state of its infrastructure.
  As all of my colleagues know, one of the most powerful storms on 
record tore through Asia this past week--and the Philippines in 
particular. In the wake of Typhoon Haiyan, many thousands are dead and 
hundreds of thousands more are homeless and desperate for help.
  As we learn more about the devastation, I ask my colleagues to pay 
careful attention to the words of Yeb Sano, head of the Philippines 
delegation to the U.N. climate talks:

       What my country is going through as a result of this 
     extreme climate event is madness . . . Typhoons such as 
     Haiyan and its impacts represent a sobering reminder to the 
     international community that we cannot afford to 
     procrastinate on climate action.

  He is right.
  The Philippines tragedy is the latest wake-up call on climate change. 
So let's wake up.

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