Bonnie Watson Coleman: “I thank the gentlewoman for yielding to me to be able to address something that I think is so critical and is such a…”

“I thank the gentlewoman for yielding to me to be able to address something that I think is so critical and is such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. There are so many elements of this Build Back Better agenda that touch us from the very youngest to the oldest to the middle class to the working class to those unable to work and those at greatest need. I would like to speak on the aspects of the impact on our climate, the decisions that we must make. Mr. Speaker, I rise today because Congress has an opportunity to address the climate crisis, yet some Members still refuse to take this issue seriously. Climate catastrophe is no longer some distant threat. It is here, and it is now. We are witnessing it firsthand, yet we continue to ignore its very real and very deadly effects. This year we saw the single largest wildfire in California history. We saw temperatures surpass 100 degrees in the Pacific Northwest. And we saw Hurricane Ida devastate my home State of New Jersey as well as many others. These tragedies were not inevitable. We could have avoided them had our country made it clear decades ago that climate change is not a political issue but a real issue that we need to respond to. We now face the consequences of our past and present decisions. This could be our last chance to take long overdue action and spare our children from having to raise their children in an increasingly hostile world. The Build Back Better Act includes crucial climate investments.…”