Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of my amendment to H.R. 9, the Climate Action Now Act. My amendment includes findings recognizing the importance of the Paris climate agreement's task force addressing the impact of climate change on displacement and the global refugee crisis. The United States is responsible for nearly a third of the excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today and, thus, bears more responsibility for the climate crisis than any other country. But the climate crisis is a major contributing factor of yet another devastating crisis we are facing today: the global refugee crisis. In 2017, more than 60 percent of the internal displacements in the world was a result not of conflict but of natural disasters. Since 2008, an average of 24 million people has been displaced by catastrophic weather disasters each year. Within three of the most vulnerable regions of the world--sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America--143 million people could be displaced by climate change impacts by 2050. We do not need to look that far from home to know this. At least 400,000 residents of New Orleans were displaced by Hurricane Katrina for at least a few days, and many were displaced permanently. A disproportionate number of them were Black Americans. We saw it happen last year in Puerto Rico when 3,000 people died because of Hurricane Maria and our current administration failed to help them recover.…”