Volume 160, No. 137 covering the 2nd Session of the 113th Congress (2013 - 2014) was published by the Congressional Record.
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.
“U.S.-CHINA CLIMATE AGREEMENT” mentioning the Environmental Protection Agency was published in the Senate section on pages S5898-S5899 on Nov. 12, 2014.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
U.S.-CHINA CLIMATE AGREEMENT
Mr. SCHATZ. Mr. President, I rise to commend the historic agreement reached yesterday between the United States and China, the world's largest emitters of carbon pollution. This agreement is the latest and perhaps most consequential in a string of actions President Obama has taken to fight climate change.
Today, we have hope. We have hope because this agreement puts the world on a path towards solving climate change--hope because the world's two largest emitters have found common cause in protecting public health and economic opportunity for their citizens and for the world and hope because we are once again reminded what American leadership and political will can accomplish.
President Obama and President Xi of China recognize that climate change threatens our families, our jobs, our health, and our way of life. They deserve our thanks, as does Secretary Kerry, for their tireless work and dedication to this cause.
We can solve this. We know what we need to do, and we know how to do it. Today we see what political will can accomplish. I am now more hopeful than ever that we can keep warming below 2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. This is the level scientists say is necessary to stay below in order to avoid catastrophic global consequences.
Together our two countries account for about 40 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. We have a responsibility to act early and to act together, and this agreement puts us on that path.
The agreement recognizes that the United States and China must take short- and long-term measures to reduce emissions and encourage the development of clean energy. This represents a major shift for China, which had struggled to balance economic growth with growing pollution and has now agreed to cap carbon pollution for the first time ever. It is difficult to overstate what an important achievement this is, especially a full year before the next round of international negotiations in Paris.
As Secretary Kerry said today, this is a major signal to other countries that they should also put forth ambitious emissions reduction goals well before international negotiations start in 2015.
In addition, China has agreed to get a full 20 percent of its energy from zero emission sources by 2030. This means China will have to deploy close to 1,000 gigawatts of new zero emission powerplants. This is the amount of electricity the entire United States currently generates and shows just how serious China is about addressing this problem.
American leadership was crucial in forging these goals. It wouldn't have been possible without the President's Clean Power Plan, which will reduce emissions from the power sector by 30 percent relative to 2005 levels by the year 2030.
This agreement goes beyond even those ambitious targets, and in the coming months and years, it will be important for this President and the next to maintain and strengthen the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to protect Americans from harmful pollution.
Despite near universal consensus among climate scientists that the Clean Power Plan is part of the solution to fighting climate change, today that plan is under attack in Congress. Right after the President announced this historic agreement, climate deniers in Congress started rolling out every tired argument in the book. In fact, one of our colleagues here has already dubbed this plan ``unrealistic'' and called it an ``ideological war.''
These claims are the last bastion of a hopeless cause that ignores what we see all around us--from farmers to fishermen to small-town mayors. Theirs is an untenable position, because poll after poll shows that Americans do care about this issue. They care about it deeply. Americans care because they know fighting climate change is really about protecting their children's health, protecting economic opportunity, and leaving our children a world better than our own.
We are seeing the deniers' arguments collapse around them. One of their favorite tropes was to claim that U.S. actions are meaningless without action from China. Well, it looks as though that argument took a fairly big hit yesterday.
In fact, the U.S. did act first by developing the Clean Power Plan. The rules haven't even been finalized, but they are already giving us the leverage to reach major international agreements.
As excuse after excuse fails, we will see climate deniers retreat to tired claims that anything we do to reduce pollution will hurt the economy. But remember that we have heard these claims before. They were wrong then, and they are wrong now.
The list is long, so I will mention just a few. Taking the lead out of gasoline, putting catalytic converters in cars, reducing acid rain, all were met with panicky claims of economic devastation. But what we have learned is that keeping our air and our water clean actually helps our economy.
This agreement between the United States and China is historic. It is a real breakthrough, and it gives us hope that we will be able to confront and resolve one of the greatest challenges of our time. But it is still just an agreement. We need to follow through with action. We must listen to the American people and amplify their voices as they call for action to preserve our health, our economy, and our way of life.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Brown). The Senator from Louisiana.
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