May 1, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 71 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Page H3350]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     CLIMATE CHANGE IS OUR PRESENT

  (Mr. ROUDA asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ROUDA. Mr. Speaker, climate change isn't a question of if or even 
when. Climate change is not our future. It is our present.
  Kids with asthma are finding it harder and harder to breathe on their 
walks to school or to the playground. Raging fires have reduced whole 
communities to ash in my home State of California. Rising seas threaten 
to swallow family homes on the coast. Extreme weather has devastated 
our country from the coast of Puerto Rico to the coast of Orange 
County.
  So, it bears asking: What will it take for politicians to see what 
the American people already know to be true?
  Americans are already suffering from climate change, and the threat 
to humankind grows every day.
  In 2015, almost every country in the world recognized the climate 
crisis and signed the Paris Agreement. The United States led the way.
  In 2017, this administration abdicated the throne of American global 
leadership and joined Russia, Turkey, and Iran in the cheap seats.
  This administration failed to lower carbon emissions and protect the 
lungs, homes, and wallets of the American people.
  The Climate Action Now Act demands accountability from this White 
House. It is an up-and-down vote on whether the Members of this body 
support a livable future for humankind.

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