Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I rise today to join my Democratic colleagues in lifting up the voices of countless people in my home State of Washington and around the Nation who are calling out for Congress to truly address the climate change crisis.

I am glad the Republicans have decided to take at least a short break from their hurried ideological campaign to pack our Federal courts with as many conservative judges as possible. It is inexcusable that they are now choosing to play silly political games instead of working with us to make progress on the many challenges our constituents are facing right now.

Let me be clear. Democrats welcome a robust, fact-based discussion on the Senate floor about what we as a nation must do to combat climate change. That is not what today's vote is, nor what it was meant to be. From the beginning, this vote was scheduled by Republicans to throw red meat to their rightwing base and an extra bone to Big Oil and Gas. But, if anything, what today's vote makes painfully obvious is that while Democrats are here at the table ready to get to work to tackle one of the most urgent issues of our time, Republicans don't have a vision, much less any solution for how we are going to reverse the course of climate change and prevent future damage to our planet. On the contrary, many Republicans won't even admit this is a problem, even after the Trump administration itself released its own report detailing how climate change has damaged our planet and will continue to do so if unaddressed.

Democrats are all on the same page. We believe in the science, we believe climate change is one of our planet's most urgent crises, and we all believe that now is the time to take action before our planet suffers even more irreparable harm. Democrats have long recognized climate change is a threat not just to our environment but to our economy, our community, our health, and even our way of life.

As a voice for Washington State, whose residents are being threatened summer after summer with ever-worsening wildfires that destroy more property and cost more money to contain and prevent every year, and as a grandmother who wants to leave a better world for the next generation, this is personal to me. But it is not just me or Senate Democrats; our families back in our States understand the risk of climate change, too, and they are very eager for their government to take action against the immediate threat that it poses.

I was back home last week meeting with leaders in our State capital of Olympia. They are working on a suite of progressive policies aimed at tackling climate change. Every day, I hear from young people all over my State about how they want to inherit a clean, healthy planet. The only way we can ensure that happens is by listening to the science and working to do something now while we still can make a difference.

I am inspired by my constituents--especially the students. I understand why they are so passionate. They get it. They know how serious climate change is for today and tomorrow, and they get that we don't have any time to waste. But they cannot do it alone, and neither can Washington State. It is going to take a national effort, a Federal effort to give this issue the attention it deserves, and Congress should play a major role in making sure it is treated like the emergency it is.

Unfortunately, when I turn to my Republican friends in moments like this, when we could be having a real conversation about what we should be doing today to tackle climate change, I am reminded that this isn't a debate made in good faith. If Republicans were truly interested in addressing climate change, they would have stood against President Trump's reckless efforts to roll back clean air standards or, even better, stopped him from pulling the United States out of the Paris climate agreement and weakening our leadership in the global fight against climate change. And those are just a few things.

Now we have some Democrats and Republicans coming together to protect our environment. The recent passage of the public lands package is a good example. But when it comes to the issue of climate change and having a discussion about what it would take to really address it with the seriousness and the urgency it deserves, Republicans apparently only have time for partisan political games, which is so unfortunate because it is long past time for them to recognize that climate change is an urgent and serious issue. It is going to take all of us working together to prevent future generations from suffering the worst of its impact.

Democrats are ready and willing to debate Republicans on the facts, about the risks of not tackling climate change as aggressively as possible, and I can only urge Republicans to drop these games. Listen to your constituents. Listen to the facts. Do the right thing and work with us to address this critical issue before it truly is too late. Thank you.

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