On the recordFebruary 18, 2011
My colleagues, this amendment would eliminate funding to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or the IPCC. The U.S. contributes only $2.3 million to the IPCC, and our $2.3 million contribution leverages a global science assessment institution with global outreach and global technical input, a process we could not carry out alone and one that could come to a halt without U.S. support. Their work on climate change is unparalleled. In its four assessment reports to date, they have brought together thousands of scientists around the world in disciplines ranging from atmospheric science, to forest ecology, to economics to provide objective and policy neutral information. The panel has attracted hundreds of the best U.S. scientists. In fact, a majority of the research that's reviewed is undertaken in U.S. institutions. The IPCC's work has been lauded by the U.S. Academy of Sciences and by the InterAcademy Council, a body comprised of the national academies of the world. In fact, in 2007 that organization won the Nobel Prize for its assessment work. This institution is a nonpartisan and technically extraordinarily sound organization. The Republican majority has already voted to prevent the EPA from using funds to regulate greenhouse gases. Now we're being asked to defund the work of international scientists to learn about the threat. Now, the assumption, I assume, is that there is no threat and, therefore, let's not study it.
