Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of my bipartisan bill, the Save Our Seas 2.0 Amendments Act. Marine debris is a serious problem. Unfortunately, much of marine debris is made up of plastic pollution. The ocean is littered with plastic bottles, straws, grocery bags, cigarette butts, fishing gear, and abandoned vehicles. Additionally, there are tiny pieces of plastic, microplastics, that make their way into marine life, blocking digestive tracts, altering growth, and, in some cases, killing marine mammals and threatening fisheries. We still don't know how long it takes for plastic to biodegrade completely. Estimates range from 500 years to never. A 2020 study from The Pew Charitable Trusts found that, every year, more than 11 million metric tons of plastic garbage enter the ocean, harming marine life and destroying ecosystems. If we do nothing to minimize ocean plastic pollution, it will nearly quadruple by 2040. We need to fundamentally change our reliance on plastics. Not only do they pollute the ocean, but they also exacerbate the climate crisis. The fossil fuel and plastics industries are connected, and plastics contribute to industrial emissions in the United States. A global challenge of this magnitude cannot be solved with a single bill. We should not limit our action to removing existing plastic from the ocean, and we cannot recycle our way out of plastic waste that ends up on our shores.…”