On the recordJuly 16, 2019
I thank very much the graciousness of the gentleman from Ohio, although I think his amendment is wrongheaded. Here is what is real: Climate change is real, number one. Number two, it has significant national security implications. Number three, the only smart thing to do is to borrow the old motto from the Boy Scouts, ``Be prepared.'' Passage of this amendment, which would remove the Climate Security Advisory Council, renders us less prepared. We all know that the intelligence community and the DOD have, time and again, assessed the measurable effects of climate change--rising sea levels, higher temperatures, more frequent extreme weather events, new stressors on natural resources and agriculture--have tangible impacts that exacerbate economic distress, human insecurity, political instability, and other humanitarian conditions detrimental to our national security. The smart thing to do is to be prepared, to have the advisory council that can work across the intelligence community, that can collect the information, coordinate the information, so that we know what is coming, we know what we are being presented with, and we can confront it in a smart way. Madam Chair, I urge my colleagues to please defeat this amendment and pass the underlying bill.
