[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 7970-7971]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            EXTREME WEATHER

  (Mr. TONKO asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. TONKO. Mr. Speaker, as hurricane season begins this week, there 
is no better time for Congress to refocus its efforts on better 
protecting our coastline communities and the more than 123 million 
people that live in them from extreme weather events.
  In the wake of hurricanes like Katrina, Rita, Sandy, and Irene, which 
took lives and destroyed property in my district, extreme weather 
preparedness should be an issue that both Democrats and Republicans 
support now more than ever.
  Since 2011, extreme weather episodes have cost $188 billion in 
property destruction, business closures, and crop damages. Even worse, 
these storms have taken the lives of 1,107 Americans.
  There is ample evidence to believe that this trend of increased 
extreme weather, which has grown exponentially since 2000, will only 
continue to get worse. Just today we heard about the widest tornado 
recorded in United States history at 2.6 miles wide and winds of 296 
miles per hour.
  We need to ask ourselves: Do we address the climate change problem 
now or do we continue to ignore future threats, making preventable 
disasters more and more costly with each passing year of inaction?
  As the cochair of the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition in 
the House of Representatives, I suggest we act now.

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