On the recordSeptember 8, 2022
Mr. President, I rise this morning to express my strong opposition to the so-called side deal that the fossil fuel industry is pushing to make it easier for them to pollute the environment and destroy our planet. But, before I do, let me put my opposition to this disastrous side deal into a broader context. As the father of four kids and the grandfather of seven, I very much wish that I did not have to say what I am going to say, but the most serious challenge facing our country and the entire world, far and away, is, in fact, the existential threat of climate change. That is not the opinion of Bernie Sanders, who failed physics in college. That is what the scientific community is telling us in a virtually unanimous voice. The latest report from the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the IPCC, is very clear, and it is very foreboding. If the United States, China, Russia, and the rest of the world do not act extremely aggressively in cutting carbon emissions, our planet will face enormous and irreversible damage. In fact, the world that we will be leaving to our kids and to future generations will become increasingly unhealthy and uninhabitable. That is not Bernie Sanders. That is the virtually unanimous conclusion of the scientists who study this issue. The truth is that we don't need the scientists or another study to tell us what is happening. We see it with our own eyes here in the United States and all over the world.…
Source
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