On the recordJuly 21, 2015
as the Presiding Officer knows, as he has suffered through a considerable number of them, this is the 107th time I have come to the floor to urge my colleagues to wake up to the threat of climate change. All over the United States, State by State by State, we are already seeing the real effects of carbon pollution. We see it in our atmosphere, we see it in our oceans, and we see it in our weather, in habitats, and in species. The American people see it. Two-thirds of Americans, including half of Republicans, favor government action to reduce global warming, and two-thirds, including half of Republicans, would be more likely to vote for a candidate who campaigns on fighting climate change. Polling from the Florida Atlantic University shows that more than 73 percent of U.S. Hispanics--a pretty key voting block--think global warming is a serious problem. Sixty-two percent of Republican Hispanics are concerned about this. And I have said this before: If you ask Republican voters under the age of 35, they will tell us that climate denial is ``out of touch,'' ``ignorant,'' or ``crazy.'' Those are the words they selected in the poll--not my words. So we might expect Presidential hopefuls to incorporate climate action into their campaign platforms. We might expect the Republican candidates to address this problem in an honest and straightforward manner. But we would be wrong. What have we seen from the Presidential hopefuls?…
