Barbara Lee: “I thank the chairman for yielding, for his tremendous leadership on this and so many issues. Mr. Chairman, I rise today…”

“I thank the chairman for yielding, for his tremendous leadership on this and so many issues. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of H.R. 9, the Climate Action Now Act. This piece of legislation is an extremely important first step in protecting our environment--major first step--and we have to move forward and do even more. H.R. 9 ensures that the United States remains in the Paris Agreement and prohibits Federal funding to exit the agreement. It is critical that the United States takes the lead on addressing climate change on the world's stage. Let me be clear. The Trump Administration is plugging their ears and pretending that climate change doesn't exist. America was once a global leader in fighting climate change. It was our leadership that led so many nations to commit to climate action. Yet this administration has abandoned plans to address climate change and, instead, has weakened our leadership in the world. It is really shameful, and this needs to stop. Climate change is an urgent matter. It creates more flooding and superstorms, threatening the safety of millions of Americans and people around the world. People around our country and throughout the world are breathing in polluted and unhealthy air. Here in our own country, communities of color and low-income communities also, disproportionately, are impacted by the effects of climate change and have a lack of access to adequate healthcare services on top of that.…”