March 5, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 44 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session

[Page S1592]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          CLIMATE LEGISLATION

  Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I rise today to address several 
proposals with significant consequences for our environment that have 
come before the Senate this Congress. In particular, I would like to 
express my support for the joint resolution of disapproval concerning 
the Environmental Protection Agency's regulations to reverse the Obama 
administration's Clean Power Plan rules and my opposition to two 
amendments to weaken existing protections for public lands.
  I am dedicated to promoting policies that address the urgent climate 
crisis. We cannot wait 50 or 100 years to address the climate impacts 
that threaten the livelihoods of our farmers, our businesses, our 
infrastructure, and our national security. It is for that reason that I 
oppose the administration's efforts to overturn, roll back, and weaken 
the Clean Power Plan rules, and I cosponsored S.J. Res. 53, a joint 
resolution providing for the disapproval of the regulations submitted 
by the Environmental Protection Agency to repeal the Obama 
administration's Clean Power Plan rules. In order to fully address our 
urgent climate crisis, the Clean Power Plan rules must be reinstated 
and strengthened.
  It is also our responsibility to preserve our natural resources and 
pass them on to future generations through responsible conservation and 
smart policies that allow outdoor recreation to thrive. This Congress, 
the Senate has considered proposals--which I oppose--to reduce, 
diminish, or eliminate protections for existing national monuments and 
to prevent the use of funds from the Land and Water Conservation Fund 
for land acquisition. These proposals would weaken the core mission of 
two critical conservation programs that preserve our natural resources.
  I have voted against similar proposals that would undermine the 
Antiquities Act or the Land and Water Conservation Fund when they have 
been considered as amendments to comprehensive public lands bills 
because I believe that we need to do more to protect and conserve our 
public lands. I have also cosponsored Senator Udall's legislation to 
reinforce existing law on the establishment of national monuments and 
Senator Manchin's bill to provide full, permanent funding for the Land 
and Water Conservation Fund.

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