Political Quotes

“I rise this evening to offer a commonsense amendment to H.R. 3494. My amendment simply strikes Section 401, which creates the Climate Security Advisory Council. And I thank the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Duncan) for his leadership, and also cosponsoring this particular amendment. This council is not the most responsible use of the valuable manpower and funding of the intelligence community, especially since the Director of National Intelligence did not even request that we create such an organization. The Federal Government already has vast resources devoted to the climate issue. Any climate security intelligence work should be in the context of larger intelligence matters affecting major regions around the world and the U.S. national security infrastructure. Additionally, many of the existing intelligence organizations already do much of this work on their own, including the CIA. Section 401 would just create unneeded redundancy across the intelligence community. If the goal is to ensure that we allocate our resources efficiently, we should instead require a report to Congress from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence outlining the necessity for the Climate Security Council before Congress establishes the organization or appropriates any funding. Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time. The Acting CHAIR. For what purpose does the gentleman--”