Safe Climate Caucus

Floor Speech

Mr. HUFFMAN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to once again speak about the issue of climate change that is affecting every country, but as the World Bank has found, the impacts are not distributed equally. It is likely that the poorest nations on Earth will be the hardest hit.

The U.N. ranks the Philippines as the country that is third most vulnerable to the effects of climate change because of its geography, its poverty, and the state of its infrastructure.

As all of my colleagues know, one of the most powerful storms on record tore through Asia this past week--and the Philippines in particular. In the wake of Typhoon Haiyan, many thousands are dead and hundreds of thousands more are homeless and desperate for help.

As we learn more about the devastation, I ask my colleagues to pay careful attention to the words of Yeb Sano, head of the Philippines delegation to the U.N. climate talks:

What my country is going through as a result of this extreme climate event is madness ..... Typhoons such as Haiyan and its impacts represent a sobering reminder to the international community that we cannot afford to procrastinate on climate action.

He is right.

The Philippines tragedy is the latest wake-up call on climate change. So let's wake up.

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