Tina Smith: “climate change is the existential challenge of our time. I know this because this is what the science says. I know this…”

“climate change is the existential challenge of our time. I know this because this is what the science says. I know this because I have seen the impacts of climate change in my State. I know this because it is what our children who will live with the consequences of a changing climate tell us. In a recent poll, half of Americans age 18 to 29 describe climate change as a ``crisis that demands urgent action.'' Today I rise to discuss how the clean energy revolution can be the way we fight climate change and the way we create jobs and opportunity. Colleagues, in this global challenge, the United States can lead or we can follow. I want us to lead. This morning, as a Senator from an agricultural and high-tech State from the Upper Midwest, I have joined with Representative Ben Ray Lujan, who represents the great State of New Mexico, a State with significant oil and gas resources, to introduce the Clean Energy Standard Act of 2019. Our legislation would dramatically expand clean electricity and put the United States on a path to net zero greenhouse gas emissions from the electric sector by the middle of the century, including a nearly 80-percent reduction in emissions by 2035 compared to 2005. Not so long ago, the United States was a global leader in tackling climate change. President Obama took strong action to remove carbon emissions from cars.…”