Political Quotes

“Madam Chair, I rise also in support of the amendment offered by my dear friend from New Jersey, Dr. Holt. And I also want to echo the words of the gentleman from California, Representative Farr, in saying that it has been an honor and a privilege to serve in his company in the United States House of Representatives. Madam Chair, average temperatures have risen across the contiguous 48 States since 1901, with an increased rate of warming over the past 30 years. Seven of the top 10 warmest years on record have occurred since just 1998. Tropical storm activity in the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico has increased during the past 20 years. In the past 2 years alone, extreme weather events resulted in 109 Presidential major disaster declarations, 20 events that each inflicted at least $1 billion in damage, 409 deaths, and $130 billion in economic losses in 44 States. All that was caused by these 20 events alone. Every part of the Southwest experienced higher average temperatures between 2000 and 2013 than the long-term average dating back to 1895. Some areas were nearly two degrees warmer than average. We simply cannot afford to ignore this increasing threat in the future. In times like these, it would be irresponsible to cut funding for research dedicated to predicting future extreme weather events, but that is just what this legislation does. Madam Chair, research is how we educate ourselves.…”