Chris Coons: “I would like to thank my colleague from Oregon, Senator Merkley, who has done a tremendous job laying out the scientific…”

“I would like to thank my colleague from Oregon, Senator Merkley, who has done a tremendous job laying out the scientific case, the compelling economic case, the cultural case, and the global case for why we here in the Senate need to wake up, need to listen to the indisputable evidence of what climate change is doing in our home States, to our country, and around the world. Mr. President, even now as we speak in this Chamber, my own three children--Maggie, Michael, and Jack--are asleep at home. And as I reflected on this past summer, I was struck by something--an experience we had--that was a simple and telling reminder of the steady changes wrought by climate change in our Nation. Last summer we took a family vacation--a trip--to Glacier National Park. For those who have had the opportunity to hike in this majestic national park in Montana, it is the site of many striking and beautiful scenes, but there was one hike we took in particular that stayed with me. It was a hike to historic Grinnell Glacier--a glacier that is by many photographs over decades documented in its steady receding. In fact, since 1966 it has lost nearly half of its total acreage. We took a long and winding hike up the trail that takes you to Grinnell Glacier. You can't quite see until you come up over the last rise that most of what is left of Grinnell Glacier in the summers today is a chilly pool of water.…”