Safe Climate and Rail

Floor Speech

Mr. HUFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, we are in dangerous and uncharted territory. At 400 parts per million, there is now more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than at any time in the past 3 million years.

Now here in the United States, more than a quarter of our greenhouse gas emissions come from the transportation sector, so it's urgent that we make our cars and trucks cleaner, but also that we invest in clean modes of transportation, such as rail.

Saturday was National Train Day, which celebrates the rail networks that efficiently move freight and passengers across our country and reduce the number of cars on our roads.

In California, we're building high-speed rail with renewable energy. When complete, it will move millions of people far more quickly, cleanly, and efficiently than we do today. And in the North Bay, we're connecting Sonoma and Marin Counties with 70 miles of rail, meaning 1.4 million fewer car trips along Highway 101.

Investments in rail at the national scale can increase efficiency, reduce traffic, and fight climate change. It's time for Congress to get ``all aboard'' with this climate solution.

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