Raúl Grijalva

In holding hearings on climate change at both the Full Committee and Subcommittee levels, we were hoping to turn over a new leaf in the important work of addressing climate change and its impacts in this Committee.

It is bringing to light something that has not been discussed around here for a good 8 years.

We are not dealing with full throated denial of climate change; we are dealing with climate change avoidance.

Before we start shedding a lot of crocodile tears about the poor, the people that are being displaced, the ones that are suffering the most, let's put some substance behind those crocodile tears.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for the hearing. Excellent witnesses and excellent work you and the staff do to put this together.

I hope that we can put politics aside, if even for just a moment, and focus instead on science and evidence and our future.

The question is whether we have the courage to act on climate.

We must also not advocate our global leadership on the issue of climate change, or subcontract our energy and environmental policies to a handful of big polluters who ignore science and common sense.

We must not wait to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy or energy-efficient buildings or electrify our transportation infrastructure.

This isn't that hard to figure out. Now must be the time to accept reality.

Please allow climate science and the research process to proceed unfettered by political attacks on scientists.

This is about leaving the planet better for them than how I found it.

In 2018, there were 14 weather and climate disasters each with damages over $1 billion, total cost was $91 billion.

2018 was the 4th hottest year on record for our planet, falling behind only 2015, 2016, and 2017.

Just now, NOAA released their recap for U.S. and global climate for 2018.

If you are approaching climate change as a partisan, political issue, your faith is leading you astray.

If this Committee and bold chambers of Congress don't urgently come together, put the people of this country first, put God first, and put your political party to the side to solve climate change, we don't make it beyond 12 years from now…

Climate change is our lunch counter moment for the 21st century.

We must make a just transition off of fossil fuels to a 100 percent clean, renewable energy economy that works for all.

Climate change is an urgent problem. It demands urgent action and a sense of purpose from Congress.

Climate change is a matter of social justice. Communities of color and tribes are disproportionately impacted by climate change, and will continue to struggle unless we take action.

The Trump administration chooses to mock science and mislead the public about what our country will look like if we do nothing.

Today, we turn the page on this Committee from climate change denial to climate action.

Every day that we fail to act increases the costs of addressing this crisis for future generations.

Climate change is real. The emissions we produce from burning fossil fuels are making it worse.