America Competes Reauthorization Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. TED LIEU of California. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to oppose the America COMPETES Act in part because it cuts over $62 million of funding to the hard science of studying the effects of climate change.

The effects of climate change are not a partisan issue. We know that our sea levels have risen by over 6.7 inches in the last century, and they have accelerated in the last decade. Rising sea levels affect not just Democratic districts; it also affects Republican districts.

We can measure with precision that we have had, over 20 years, the hottest records in terms of temperatures in recorded history having occurred since 1980. We know that, in 2012, over 19 States broke the hottest records in their States. More extreme weather events and more weather uncertainty affect not just red States and blue States and purple States, it affects all of America. And that is why, last month, former Reagan Secretary of State George Shultz wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post saying: Climate change is happening. We need to take action on it, and we need to ensure our future against climate change. He called it the Reagan way. He said that is what President Reagan would have done.

As you know, this America COMPETES Act, the funding for the hard science of the effects of climate change, was put in place under President Bush in 2007. Just today, our President announced what the U.S. military is saying about climate change.

I served on Active Duty in the United States Air Force. I am now 19 years in with the Reserves. One of the amazing strengths of America is that our military is nonpartisan, nonideological; and our military takes the world as it is, not as they hope it to be. Our military does not live in a fantasy world, and they understand that climate change is happening. They know it is a national security threat. They are telling the American public we need to act on climate change now because we can't have flooding of our bases; we can't have droughts and more severe weather events that cause conflicts in all the parts of the world.

So I ask the American public to trust former Reagan Secretary of State George Shultz, trust President Bush, trust our United States military who are saying climate change is a problem. Keep in mind, our military relies on hard science and technology and all that makes this world possible. So trust our military, and trust everyone who has looked at it. Please reject the America COMPETES Act because we need to deal with climate change. We need to deal with it now.

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