Climate Change

Floor Speech

Mr. WELCH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as a member of the Safe Climate Caucus to address the issue of climate change.

Global warming means that the planet on average is getting warmer. The evidence here is indisputable.

Global warming is also causing freak weather events that just aren't normal. These include hurricanes, typhoons and droughts. They also include the brutal cold fronts that are sweeping the country.

Some climate deniers have used this as an opportunity to assert that the overwhelming science behind global warming is wrong. The irony in this assertion is that while the U.S. has extreme unusually cold temperatures, current temperatures in the Arctic are above average.

NOAA recently confirmed that 2013 was the fourth warmest year on record. All 13 years of the 21st century rank among the 15 warmest since records began 134 years ago. On average, spring weather arrives ten days earlier than it used to in the Northern Hemisphere. While many states in the Midwest and Northeast have exceptionally cold temperatures, Alaska is experiencing unusually warm weather and California is going through a record-breaking drought. Average daily highs in Alaska are 11 degrees greater than the historical average for January.

These unusual weather events are doing real economic harm and are hurting American families. Congress needs to tackle this problem of man-made climate change head on and not just bury our heads in the snow.

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