The Sequester and Natural Disasters

Floor Speech

Mr. HUFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, because of climate change, we're facing stronger and more destructive storms and natural disasters than at any other time in American history. And at the same time, the sequester is slashing funding for the agencies that are critical to helping our communities protect, adapt, and rebuild.

NOAA will lose $271 million in funding this year, and that includes $50 million for the geostationary weather satellite program. That's the program that provides continuous monitoring for severe weather.

So less than a year after Hurricane Sandy, a month after the devastating tornadoes in Oklahoma, we're cutting the agency responsible for forecasting and monitoring severe weather.

But it's not just severe weather disasters on our shores that threaten American communities. My congressional district has seen debris from the 2011 Japanese tsunami wash up on our shores, and our regional economy is inextricably linked to the health of our oceans, which are jeopardized by climate change.

Our planet is warming. We're beginning to feel major impacts, and it will only get worse unless we act to protect our climate.

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