Climate Security Act of 2008--Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

CLIMATE SECURITY ACT OF 2008--MOTION TO PROCEED -- (Senate - June 02, 2008)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Madam President, I thank Chairwoman Boxer for her great leadership of our committee.

Today, we begin a discussion of a historic opportunity--an opportunity to restore American leadership on something that is so critical for the future of our country and of the world.

I just came back, Madam President, from Minnesota, where I spent the last week. People are glad that spring is here, but I was surprised by the number of people who came and talked to me about the climate change issue. They knew this debate was coming. It is not just kids with penguin buttons anymore. It is hunters in Hibbing who have seen the changes to our wetlands, people who ice fish, and little city councils in places such as Lanesboro, MN, that changed out their light bulbs to save money. And it is business people in Duluth who have seen Lake Superior at historic lows over the last 80 years. People in our State are seeing the changes, and they are concerned about the changing weather patterns and the frequency of changing weather patterns--with tornadoes, with floods, and with fires.

Local communities all over this country are taking action. My State of Minnesota has one of the most aggressive renewable standards in this country. We don't view this as a partisan issue. We view this as a bipartisan issue. Everyone from our Republican Governor to our Democratic legislature to independent city councils all over the State want to see action on climate change from Washington.

Just a year or two ago this Senate was debating whether climate change existed, and now, finally, today, with a vote on this motion, we can start debating how to solve it. We had an event today where people from all over the country talked about the effect it had in their communities--global warming. Someone from Alaska joined us to describe the way climate change has affected whale populations and fishing traditions that support her community.

It actually made me think of my own State of Minnesota where fishing is very important. I would love to ask the Presiding Officer if she knew how much money we spend on bait and worms alone in Minnesota every year, but, of course, the rules prohibit her from answering. In fact, the answer is, in the State of Minnesota we spend $50 million a year alone on worms and bait. It gives you a sense of how important, in the land of 10,000 lakes, fishing and outdoor recreation is to the State.

A total of $1.8 billion every year is spent on angling alone. That is why everybody from snowmobilers to hunters, to people who fish, to everyday citizens, care about this issue in my State, and why it is so important to move forward on this legislation.

The other piece of interest is that our State is third in the country with wind. We see the potential for jobs. If we set the standards in this country, the investment will follow. Think of what happened when we raised the gas mileage standard years ago: we saved money. Now we are doing it again this year.

Think about when John F. Kennedy stood and challenged this country to put a man on the Moon. We won that space race, but we did more than that. By drawing that line in the sand, by saying this country was going to move forward, we produced endless amounts of technology just from that one moment we said we were going to put a man on the Moon.

We produced weather satellites, solar technology, digital wristwatches, ultrasound machines, laser surgery, infrared medical thermometers, programmable pacemakers, satellite TV broadcasts, high-density batteries, high-speed, long distance telephone service, automated insulin pumps, CAT scans, radiation blocking sunglasses, and my personal favorite, those little chocolate space sticks that my family used to take on camping trips in the 1970s.

That was all because someone in the Nation's Capital said we were going to move in a new direction; we were not going to let other countries be the first to put a man on the Moon; we were going to be first.

That is what we have the opportunity to do with this legislation. We have the opportunity to start moving and doing something about climate change. Many people around the world are waiting for us to act, to go first, as we have so many other times. Other countries have done things, but our country, the United States of America, making a statement on this matter, will make a difference for the rest of the world. We need to set our expectations high. We need to set our standards high. And we have to remember, while climate change is a challenge--and I don't believe it is any longer seriously disputed in terms of the science on global warming--it is also an opportunity.

I look forward to the debate that we will have in the coming days, and I thank Chairwoman Boxer again for her leadership.

Madam President, I yield the floor.

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