Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017

Floor Speech

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Mr. POCAN. Mr. Chairman, I believe climate change represents one of the greatest threats to our economic livelihood, our national security, and the health of the planet.

To help combat this growing threat, on February, 19, 2015, the President issued a historic executive order which requires that the Federal Government commit to key sustainability goals. This executive order builds off of ongoing low-cost efforts throughout the administration to reduce emissions, save energy, and achieve key sustainability goals.

The efforts bolstered by this executive order have already helped Federal agencies save $1.8 billion in cumulative energy costs. Surely we can all agree that the Federal Government, as the country's largest consumer of energy, should be a leader in cutting energy costs and saving taxpayer dollars, which is exactly what this executive order enables us to do.

Specifically, the executive order directs Federal agencies to ensure 25 percent of their total energy consumption is from clean energy sources by 2025 and reduces energy use at Federal buildings by 2\1/2\ percent per year between 2015 and 2025. These are worthy realistic goals to strive for because the consequences of not acting are dire.

Unmitigated global warming will reduce our global gross domestic product by almost a quarter in the next 80 years. As a professor at Stanford University said, we are basically throwing away money by not addressing climate change.

And to be clear, Mr. Chairman, this isn't something that only environmental groups are concerned about. Citigroup issued a report that found that minimizing temperature rises could reduce the global gross domestic product loss by $50 trillion.

While climate change will have catastrophic long-term consequences, the effects of our warming planet are already being felt in our own backyards. Given the nature of this threat and the modest, yet worthy, goal this executive order sets to help combat the economic security and health risk climate change poses to us, I hope we can push through these commonsense measures.

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Mr. POCAN. Mr. Chairman, I think the gentleman may have a little confusion and not be as concerned about funds that are expended, but really funds that are saved--the $1.8 billion in cumulative energy costs and the billions of dollars we will save by addressing climate change. I know in 2015, in the gentleman's home State of California, they had the worst water shortage in 1,200 years, which has been intensified 15 to 20 percent by global warming. In my home State of Wisconsin, farmers are facing more pests and widespread disease from higher humidity and warmer winter temperatures.

I would argue that this isn't about spending funds. This is about saving taxpayer funds, which is what I thought people on the other side of the aisle also would want to do. I hope that the gentleman might change his mind and support this amendment.

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Mr. POCAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. POCAN. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

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