[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 2925-2927]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             CLIMATE CHANGE

  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I am very pleased to see that we have 
confirmed a couple of judges. We have judges all over this country, 
nominees waiting to be confirmed and judicial emergencies all over the 
country, so I hope this is a start of a new day. We will see what 
happens.
  Mr. President, I stand here as chairman of the Environment and Public 
Works Committee to talk about one of the greatest threats facing our 
Nation; that is, climate change, dangerous climate change, or you could 
call it climate disruption. It seems as though the only people who do 
not get it are Members of Congress. They do not get it.
  Last week I talked about a front page story in USA TODAY that 
highlighted the impacts of climate change unfolding around us. The 
story I talked about is the first of a yearlong series called ``Why you 
should sweat climate change.'' Everyone else is sweating about it but 
not here, not in this Senate, not in this Congress.

[[Page 2926]]

  Since last week, additional information concerning climate change has 
been released that I want to talk about today. I want to build a record 
in this Senate on an issue that threatens the very lives of our 
grandchildren. It is hard to imagine that this country is facing a 
question of our own survival and so few people seem to care about it.
  I am going to talk about another report. A study published last week 
in Science reports that average global temperatures were higher in the 
past decade than over most of the previous 11,300 years. Let me repeat 
that. Let me repeat that for any colleagues who might be listening. 
Average global temperatures were higher in the past decade than over 
most of the previous 11,300 years. Yet the Senate does very little.
  Senator Sanders and I have a bill--a very important bill--to put a 
price on the pollution that is causing the climate to be disrupted and 
to change. Let me say that we do not have a slew of sponsors.
  The lead author of the study in this Science report said average 
global temperatures were higher in the past decade than most of the 
previous 11,300 years. He is a paleoclimatologist at Oregon State 
University. Here is what he said:

       What's different is the rate of change. . . . What we've 
     seen over the past 150 years is much greater than anything we 
     saw in the past 11,000.

  That is Shaun Marcott, Ph.D., the lead author of the study.
  Some people may ask, why is this study important? What does it mean 
for our kids? What does it mean to our grandkids? Let's go to the 
quote.

       If the scientists' forecasts are correct, the planet will 
     be warmer in 2100 than it has been for 11,300 years.

  The scientific evidence continues to mount. Study after study has 
concluded that the planet is warming and the impacts have already 
started. Yet the only place that doesn't seem to get this message is 
right here in Washington, DC--not at the White House; they get it. 
President Obama understands it. That is why he worked with us to 
increase fuel economy, to keep that carbon pollution from automobiles 
out of the air, and we are moving to a 55-miles-per-gallon standard.
  That is going to help, but that is not enough. We need to put a price 
on pollution so polluters turn away from dirty energy and turn toward 
clean energy. That will save us from most of the ravages of the 
changing climate. But the window is closing on the timeframe because 
impacts have already started. Another study released last week by the 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, found there was 
a dramatic jump in the amount of carbon dioxide in the air in 2012. It 
was the second highest increase since 1959, when record-keeping began.
  The increase in carbon in the air is yet another signal that 
scientists' predictions about climate change and climate disruption--
those predictions are coming true. We have already seen the devastating 
and far-reaching consequences of unchecked climate disruption in the 
extreme weather events.
  The Government Accountability Office--the GAO; they are not partisan, 
and they are not ideological--recently released a report entitled 
``2013 High Risk List'' that discusses how climate disruption and 
extreme weather events threaten our Nation. This is the Government 
Accountability Office. We, the taxpayers, support the Government 
Accountability Office. They are nonpartisan, and they are straight-
from-the-shoulder analysts. They say:

       Climate change could threaten coastal areas with rising sea 
     levels, alter agricultural productivity, and increase the 
     intensity and frequency of severe weather events such as 
     floods, drought, and hurricanes.''

  I guess they look out their window in addition to looking at the 
numbers. Anyone who looked out their window who lives in the area of 
Superstorm Sandy understands this.
  Climate change could threaten our coastal areas--it is already doing 
it. I don't know if anybody saw those homes being removed from a beach 
in Massachusetts--gorgeous homes. They were there for a while--gone, 
because the ocean was going to envelope them.
  According to the GAO, extreme weather events have cost the Nation 
tens of billions of dollars already, just over the past decade. As 
these extreme weather events increase, so will the cost to American 
taxpayers. This is more from the Government Accountability Office. This 
is not from the EPA. This is not from NOAA. This is not from Barbara 
Boxer. This is not from Bernie Sanders. This is not from Sheldon 
Whitehouse. This is not from the Environment Committee. This is from 
the GAO.

       [T]he impacts and costliness of weather disasters--
     resulting from floods, drought, and other events such as 
     tropical cyclones--will increase in significance as what are 
     considered ``rare'' events become more common and intense due 
     to climate change.

  When I started in this work a very long time ago, we talked about the 
100-year flood, and we could protect ourselves against the 100-year 
flood. Now--as Governor Cuomo has stated so eloquently--we are seeing 
the 100-year flood every couple of years. Now taxpayers are on the hook 
due to extreme weather events such as Superstorm Sandy and because the 
Federal Government owns buildings across the Nation and insures 
property and crops and provides disaster assistance.
  Let's see what else the GAO says:

       Climate change . . . impacts pose significant financial 
     risks for the federal government--

  Which, by the way, means us, the taxpayers--

     which owns extensive infrastructure, insures property through 
     federal flood and crop insurance programs, provides technical 
     assistance to state and local governments, and provides 
     emergency aid in response to natural disasters.

  So our Federal finances are significantly at risk.

       [T]here is a growing recognition that the cost of inaction 
     could be greater and--given the government's precarious 
     fiscal position--increasingly difficult to manage given 
     expected budget pressures.

  We are going to see a couple of different budgets emerge--one from 
the Democrats in the Senate and one from the Republicans in the House--
and they will have different visions for America. One budget, the 
Democratic budget, is going to get to a deficit reduction, but it will 
invest in our people. It will say to the very wealthiest: You have to 
do your share so our kids can go to Head Start, get their education, 
job training, and clean up the environment.
  The other budget is going to be hurtful. It is going to be painful 
because the other budget--the Republican budget--is going to protect 
and defend one group of people in this country, which is the wealthy 
few. Therefore, we will not have the resources to do what we have to 
do, and we are going to see cutbacks in the areas that we need in order 
to make sure we plan for this extreme weather and make sure we can 
avert this climate disruption by investing in clean energy.
  The GAO report is clear: Unchecked climate change comes at a very 
high price, but that is what is happening in this Congress. The 
President is doing his best. Some of us over here are pushing hard. In 
the House they passed a bill. We fell short because of a filibuster. We 
had 54 votes, and we needed 60 votes. As a result, a price on carbon 
never happened, and now we are seeing hotter days, a hotter climate, 
and more severe, extreme weather. We need to take these steps. We need 
to make these investments. As these budgets come down, let's take a 
look.
  I can assure everyone that when we have a travesty and tragedy such 
as Superstorm Sandy, we are never going to turn away from our people 
whether it happens to your State, Mr. President, due to a severe 
drought or certain types of pests that arise because of a change in the 
weather. We know such events happen. It is happening all over the 
country, and it can happen anywhere.
  There is extreme weather where we have fires and droughts. We have 
snow when we never expect it, torrents of rain that we cannot even 
believe is happening, not to mention these high temperatures. We owe it 
to our children and our grandchildren not to turn away.
  Now, let's see what else the GAO tells us. This is a call from them 
to us. Is anybody listening? Is anybody who gets to vote in this Senate 
listening?

[[Page 2927]]

  The GAO calls for ``a government-wide strategic approach with strong 
leadership and the authority to manage climate change risks that 
encompasses the entire range of related federal activities and 
addresses all key elements of strategic planning.''
  That is a lot of words for something so simple. What the GAO is 
saying to us is, you guys better act because this thing is getting out 
of control. Every time I get a chance on a Monday evening, I intend to 
come down to the Senate floor and take a few minutes to build a case--
and I hope an indisputable one--that we put a price on carbon pollution 
just like we made sure other pollution had a price on it. It didn't 
matter if it was a regulatory price or if they had to go buy scrubbers 
to keep dangerous pollutants out of the air. Carbon pollution is 
dangerous. It is putting our people at risk, but no one would know it 
from what is happening around here.
  I want to close by thanking my colleague Bernie Sanders, with whom I 
am so proud to serve. I am the chairman of the Environment Committee, 
and he is a great member. Together we have come up with an excellent 
bill. The bill takes the proceeds of that carbon tax and invests it in 
our people, invests in clean energy, makes sure our middle class and 
working poor have the funds they need to pay the higher prices of 
electricity in the early years, and it will create jobs.
  There is no question as far as what is happening to our coastal 
States. There is no question as far as what is happening to our farms. 
There is no question as to what is happening to our natural resources. 
There is no question what is happening to our species. Scientists 
predict that 50 percent of God's species will be gone if we do nothing.
  When people stand here and laugh off this notion that we are facing 
severe climate change, I tell them: Look at some of the church groups 
who are supporting us. They have come together. They are with us. They 
understand that God's creation is at stake. There is no doubt about it.
  We are the stewards of this environment. We are the ones who are 
supposed to protect it. Yet in this Senate, it is shrugged off as if it 
is a nothing burger. There are young people who are here whose future 
is at stake. They want to enjoy the same opportunities my generation 
enjoyed. We owe it to them to do better.
  This nonpartisan GAO report tells us clearly that we better have a 
``government-wide strategic approach with strong leadership.'' I have 
to say I hope we have more people on this floor who will show that kind 
of leadership because the clock is ticking.
  I say to every Member here--we have old ones, young ones, and middle 
ones: You are here at the moment that we can do something. You are here 
at the moment we can still do something. The Bush administration wasted 
8 years by going to the courts and arguing that the Clean Air Act did 
not cover carbon pollution. They did nothing for 8 years. Finally, the 
Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 and said: Yes, of course, it covers carbon 
pollution. God bless the Obama administration for moving forward in 
every way they can--unfortunately, without us at this point.
  We will be judged harshly if we turn away. We are here now. We didn't 
choose this time to be born. We didn't choose the fact that this is an 
issue that is upon us. I don't know what is going to wake up this 
place, but I am going to do my best to ring the bell as often as I can.
  I thank the Chair.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Warren). The Senator from Alaska.

                          ____________________