On the recordJuly 20, 2022
Madam Speaker, over 6 years ago, our former colleague Carlos Curbelo and I launched the Climate Solutions Caucus to have a bipartisan effort to address climate change. We did it because where we live in south Florida, climate change is not a partisan issue. Republican and Democratic leaders alike, Republican and Democratic business leaders and elected officials, all understand that sunny-day flooding, and sea-level rise brought by climate change are happening right now, and we need to respond to it. {time} 1015 So we launched action here to try to responsibly address climate change, just as so many are in South Florida and around the country. The 7 years that we have just endured are the 7 hottest years on record. In 2021, the U.S. endured over 20 weather disasters, costing a billion dollars or more. Hurricanes, and floods, and wildfires, all of them made worst by climate change. Last year, there were at least 688 people who died in the United States attributed to climate change: $150 billion in damage. And so where are we now? Well, our country and our world are reeling from the devastating impact of climate change. For the first time ever, temperatures in the U.K. exceeded 104 degrees; Ireland hit record highs of over 90 degrees; Portugal 117. More than 1,100 people in Spain and Portugal died in this heat wave. Wildfires are scorching Europe. More than 100 million people in the U.S. have been under a heat alert.…





