Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act--Continued--

Floor Speech

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Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, let me thank Senator Merkley for his statement but more importantly for what he has done to elevate the discussion in the Senate on the need to deal with our environment, to deal with energy, to deal with climate change. He has been one of our true leaders in ways in which we can live sensibly and in a way that is good for our environment, good for our economy, and good for our health.

I also notice Senator Whitehouse is on the floor. I know he helped organize all of us being here today. He has taken on a leadership position in the Senate in the area of climate change, and I personally wish to thank him because this has been a difficult challenge, to keep us focused on one of the most important issues of our time. When we talk about a legacy we want to leave to future generations, it is our environment, it is our health, it is our economy, it is our national security, and Senator Whitehouse has been in the forefront of keeping us engaged on this issue so we could reach this day.

I applaud President Obama for his statements today, for his leadership, and for his action plan on dealing with climate change. It is comprehensive. It is extremely timely. I think it is a workable solution for us to be the leaders in the international community in dealing with the issues of climate change. First and foremost, it is based upon the best science. This is not a political issue, this is a science issue. Climate change is real, and the way we have to deal with it should be based upon the best science. That is what President Obama is seeking.

I heard some of my colleagues who are reluctant on this issue talk about the cost. I am glad they raised the issue of cost because when we passed the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act, the recommendations of some individuals who weren't exactly excited with the bill required that we do a cost-benefit analysis on the cost of regulation versus the benefit to our society. That cost-benefit analysis shows that we get four to eight times back in savings for what it costs to regulate to get clean air and clean water. That is just the direct economic issues. We also get a healthier lifestyle. We get air we can breathe. We are able to enjoy the environment. That is a plus in addition to the direct economic benefit.

I wish to talk about my experiences in Maryland. Maryland took a leadership position. We passed some of the toughest clean air standards in the country. We invested $1 billion in cleaning up our energy-generating plants. Do my colleagues know what that meant for Maryland? That meant 2,000 more jobs. We created jobs by cleaning up our environment. But we need national help. Why? Because air doesn't exactly stop at a State border, and we are downwind from many other States. The people in Maryland are suffering from dirty air not as a result of what is being generated in Maryland but what is being generated elsewhere, so we need national standards. That is exactly why the President has called for dramatic action and is taking dramatic action today.

Inaction will cost us dearly. We have had more episodes of extreme weather recently, and that is based upon science and the fact that weather is changing as a result of carbon pollution in our environment, greenhouse gas emissions. Between 2011 and 2012, those types of extreme weather events cost us more than $1 billion worth of damage. The taxpayers of this country paid for it because we believe that when we have emergency, extreme conditions, there is a community responsibility to help deal with it. Well, we can do something about it to mitigate that type of damage in the future, and the President did that today in his call for action in regard to climate change.

Superstorm Sandy has been referred to a couple of times on this floor. We saw the devastation of that storm, which was very close to where we are here in the Nation's Capital. Last year we had a record-setting number of continuous days of 95-plus-degree weather, so we know firsthand what is happening.

In my own State of Maryland and in this region, we pride ourselves on the Chesapeake Bay and what we have done to clean up the Chesapeake Bay. I was with Senator Carper on Monday, and we had a good-news press conference on the Eastern Shore of Maryland talking about some of the positive results we have seen in the bay.

We have worked to reduce the nutrient levels in the bay, and that is a very positive element. It reduces the oxygen deprivation in the Chesapeake Bay, and as a result we have had fewer dead zones than we had in the 1980s. That is due to the hard work we have done in this region with farmers and developers to reduce the nutrient pollutants. Yes, we are dealing with storm water runoff with farmers and developers, but we also have to deal with the realities of climate change. Warmer water kills sea grass. Sea grasses are critically important for the diversity of the Chesapeake Bay. So this issue affects my region, it affects our entire country, and inaction can cause extreme damage.

The biggest sources of carbon pollution--and my colleagues have already talked about it--are powerplants. The President talked about that, and he talked about how we deal with transportation and how we deal with our buildings. No. 1 on our list should be conservation. The less energy we use is the easiest way we can reduce our carbon footprint. We also have to develop alternative fuels, and we have to be much more aggressive in doing that.

I heard a lot of people talk about the international reaction and what other countries are doing. Two weeks ago I was in China. I was in Beijing. I was there for a couple of days. I never saw the Sun, and that wasn't because there were clouds. There were no clouds in the sky. I couldn't see the Sun because of pollution. That is not unusual in Beijing. So China is now doing something about carbon emissions. They are doing it because they have a political problem because their people can see the pollution and they have a tough time breathing. People are actually issued masks that can supplement their oxygen intake because the pollution is so bad in China. They are taking action. They are developing alternative fuels. They are investing in solar and wind and in conservation because they know it is critically important.

Quite frankly, what is needed is U.S. leadership. The international community is waiting for America to assume the leadership role, and I think the international community is prepared to work with us. That is why President Obama's comments today were just so timely--so timely to show that the United States is prepared to take action and to lead in the international community so we all can pass on a cleaner environment, a safer world, a cleaner world, a more economically viable world, a world that is more secure for our children. President Obama took a giant step forward toward that vision with his comments today.

Let me yield very quickly back to the Senator from Rhode Island, if I might.

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