Barbara Lee: “It is clear from the science that the most existential crisis the world faces is from the growing climate crisis. It is…”

“It is clear from the science that the most existential crisis the world faces is from the growing climate crisis. It is an emergency. Without intervention, our warming planet will have negative impacts on the United States and throughout the world. This bill already ignores the changing climate and its implications for so many other global challenges, including promoting food and water security, global health, the protection of tropical forests and other vital natural resources, and social and political stability in strategically important regions. According to the World Bank, changes in the environment could put 132 million people back into extreme poverty by 2030, only a few more years. It also could drive the internal migration of an additional 216 million people by 2050. {time} 1415 The State Department through the office that this amendment is defunding must be able to work with other countries and use every tool available to us to prevent the worst of increasingly ferocious natural disasters, failing crops, loss of biodiversity, and the rise of new diseases. The climate crisis poses threats to the stability of countries, heightens social and political tensions, and adversely affects food prices and availability. This again, as I said earlier, is according to our own military. The need for foreign assistance will only increase if we do not address this significant driver of crises around the world.…”