The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“CLIMATE CHANGE” mentioning Charles E. Schumer was published in the Senate section on pages S123-S124 on Jan. 25.
Of the 100 senators in 117th Congress, 24 percent were women, and 76 percent were men, according to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Senators' salaries are historically higher than the median US income.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
CLIMATE CHANGE
Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Madam President, I have hastened to the floor because I was upstairs, waiting for the House managers to bring the article over, and I heard my friend, the distinguished Senator from Alaska, talking about his concern about the fossil fuel part of the energy sector and his dissatisfaction with what the Secretary of the Treasury was able to assure him of in that regard.
I just wanted to note that I missed a moment of the Senator's remarks when I came walking down here, but as best as I could tell, the Senator never mentioned the term ``climate change,'' and he never referenced
``carbon emissions.'' I have to say, if we are going to deal with our energy sector, we have to deal with it in a way that takes into account carbon emissions and climate change. You can't just whistle past those things and pretend that they are not real and act as if we can continue to go forward in the way we always have--releasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, poisoning our oceans with acidification, warming the planet, and putting coastal communities like mine at grave risk from sea level rise and storm surge. We have to address those things.
As we go forward in this new Congress, I very much hope that my friend Senator Sullivan and I will be able to work together to address that exact problem to make sure that not only is our energy mix strong for our economy but to make absolutely sure that we are not sacrificing the safety of our planet, the economic security of our future generations, and the health of people all around the planet who have, really, no choice but to live close to the land and feel the pounding of climate change in their immediate lives every day. We have to address those things, and I hope we will.
So, in having heard his side of the argument, I just wanted to come back to the floor and offer the other side. Somewhere between us there is a resolution because I know perfectly well that the State of Alaska is getting hit by the acidification and warming side and by the sea level rise and storm surge side of this problem, just as much as Rhode Island is. Perhaps, because, as my friend constantly reminds me, Alaska has a huge advantage of size over Rhode Island, one could even imagine that it is having more of an effect than Rhode Island.
So with those comments and with affection and regard for my colleague from Alaska, I yield the floor
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
Mr. SULLIVAN. Madam President, as a lot of our colleagues here know, Senator Whitehouse is not just a distinguished Senator but one of my very good friends here in the U.S. Senate. So I always respect what he has to say, and I appreciate his words. He and I have done a lot of work--some key work, particularly on issues of the environment and cleaning up our oceans--ocean acidification--and I look forward to continuing to work with him. Climate change is also, certainly, happening in my State. We are seeing it. No doubt about it.
My point is we have an economy that is in recession, and you have tens of thousands--literally, hundreds of thousands--of people out of work, and you have a sector that is important--critical, actually--the energy sector. There is no doubt about it. I know we can use words like spewing and polluters, but the energy sector has been one of the things that has made this country so strong, with great jobs--middle-class jobs--and people can't deny that. All I am asking for is for the new Secretary of the Treasury to look at that.
We are looking at the whole U.S. economy and the strength of our recovery and good-paying jobs. That has to be taken into account. What I worry about is that it is not. We need a debate, and I would welcome it with my good friend on: What is the strategy? The strategy out of the box can't be that we are going to go after these oil and gas jobs and put people out of work. And replace it with what?
We had a hearing in the Commerce Committee with the new, incoming Transportation Secretary. A lot of people asked: Well, what are you going to replace it with? What are you telling the 10,000 guys who just lost their jobs on the Keystone Pipeline their new jobs are going to be? They have mortgages and tuitions to pay. They are out of work right now. So we need a strategy.
Look, I look forward to working on all of these issues with my good friend from Rhode Island, but it is, I think, a first. If you look back at the great history of this Nation, if you don't have a U.S. Treasury Secretary or other members of the Cabinet who are for a robust, strong energy sector--which, of course, would include renewables--that is new, that is different, and, I think, it is very troubling, particularly as it relates to the jobs that, I think, are going to be sacrificed on a policy and a strategy that I have not seen the meat and bones of yet. I am just seeing the damage, and a lot of the damage is starting to happen to the people I care about, particularly in my State, who work in these sectors and who are great Americans who have helped build this country and build my State. We can't just disregard them and say: Don't worry; you are going to get a green job later.
It is tough to tell people that. It is tough to tell people that when they have mortgages and tuitions, and we are relying on them.
So I commit to continuing to work on these issues and others with my friend from Rhode Island. I appreciate his coming down here, but I wanted to explain my vote on an issue that I think we need to debate here in the Senate that is important for our Nation.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island.
Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Madam President, I would just close by suggesting that perhaps my friend, the Senator from Alaska, can sympathize, since he fears that the interests that he came to the floor here to defend will not be listened to. Perhaps he can sympathize with the fact that, for 4 years, an entire administration wouldn't give the time of day to the sea level rise concerns that are threatening my State. We are talking about Freddie Mac. We are talking about a property value crash across all of our coasts that is going to cause enormous harm to Rhode Island, and we just left an administration that wouldn't pay one iota of attention to that. It had fossil fuel industry climate deniers, and there is such a thing. Not everybody in the fossil fuel industry is that way, but they picked the bottom feeders to bring into government.
I share the Senator's frustration, but let me say I have got it about 10,000 times over after having lived with the Trump administration for the past 4 years and gotten nothing and after having tried to bring serious climate debate to the floor, knowing that the Republican leader was going to block it. So, yes, I sympathize with his distress, and I hope he sympathizes with my, rather, greater, cumulative distress from the last 4 years.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The hour of 7 p.m. having arrived, the Acting Sergeant at Arms will present the managers on the part of the House of Representatives.
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