Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4426) to amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to ensure that the needs of children are considered in homeland security planning,…
Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4426) to amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to ensure that the needs of children are considered in homeland security planning, and for other purposes, as amended.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on this measure.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, during disasters, children are uniquely vulnerable to physical and emotional harm. Sixteen years ago, Hurricane Katrina opened our eyes to the disproportionate consequences of disasters on our Nation's children. It uprooted 300,000 children, forcing them to enroll in new schools, and separated 5,000 children from their families, some for months.
Drawing on the lessons from Katrina, the National Commission on Children and Disasters in 2010 issued recommendations to better protect children during catastrophes. To date, fewer than a quarter of those recommendations have been implemented.
Children today face a diverse range of homeland security challenges that impact their lives. We have seen COVID-19, school shootings, hurricanes, and wildfires disrupt access to education and have far- reaching impacts on the lives of children.
According to a study published this week, children today will experience three times as many climate-related disasters as their grandparents.
Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a Washington Post article on the consequences of climate change for children.
[From The Washington Post]
Today's Kids Will Live Through Three Times as Many Climate Disasters as
Their Grandparents, Study Says
(By Sarah Kaplan, September 27, 2021)
Adriana Bottino-Poage is 6 years old, with cherub cheeks
and curls that bounce when she laughs. She likes soccer, art
and visiting the library. She dreams of being a scientist and
inventing a robot that can pull pollution out of the air. She
wants to become the kind of grownup who can help the world.
Yet human actions have made the world a far more dangerous
place for Adriana to grow up, according to a first-of-its-
kind study of the impacts of climate change across
generations.
If the planet continues to warm on its current trajectory,
the average 6-year-old will live through roughly three times
as many climate disasters as their grandparents, the study
finds. They will see twice as many wildfires, 1.7 times as
many tropical cyclones, 3.4 times more river floods, 2.5
times more crop failures and 2.3 times as many droughts as
someone born in 1960.
These findings, published this week in the journal Science,
are the result of a massive effort to quantify what lead
author Wim Thiery calls the ``intergenerational inequality''
of climate change.
Drawing on multiple climate and demographic models, Thiery
and 36 colleagues compared the risks faced by previous
generations to the number of extreme events today's children
will witness in their lifetimes. Unless world leaders agree
on more ambitious policies when they meet for the United
Nations climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, this fall, the
study says, today's children will be exposed to an average of
five times more disasters than if they lived 150 years ago.
The changes are especially dramatic in developing nations;
infants in sub-Saharan Africa are projected to live through
50 to 54 times as many heat waves as someone born in the
preindustrial era.
The disparities underscore how the worst effects of climate
change will be experienced in places that contributed least
to warming, by people who have had little say in the policies
that allow continued emissions to occur, Thiery said. More
than half of all greenhouse gases in the atmosphere were
generated after 1990, meaning that most of the disasters
today's children will experience can be linked to emissions
produced during their parents' lifetimes.
``Young people are being hit by climate crisis but are not
in position to make decisions,'' he said. ``While the people
who can make the change happen will not face the
consequences.''
Aggressive efforts to curb fossil fuel use and other
planet-warming activities can still dramatically improve the
outlook for today's children, he added. If people manage to
limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit)
above preindustrial levels, newborns' risk of extreme heat
exposure will fall almost by half. They could see 11 percent
fewer crop failures, 27 percent fewer droughts and almost a
third as many river floods than if emissions continue
unabated.
But the world is nowhere near meeting that 1.5 degree
target. A U.N. report published earlier this month warned
that, based on countries' current climate pledges, greenhouse
gas emissions could actually increase by 16 percent by the
end of the decade. That would put the planet on track to warm
by 2.7 degrees Celsius (4.9 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of
the century.
This makes Adriana angry. The Woodbridge, Va., first-grader
already worries about the wildfires in California, where her
half brother lives. She has heard about islands being
inundated by rising seas, caught glimpses of hurricanes and
droughts on the news.
Meanwhile, adults ``don't listen, and they keep doing it
and keep making the Earth hotter'' she added. ``Everything
will keep getting worse and worse until I grow up. Somebody
has to do something.''
The Science paper was partly inspired by Thiery's three
sons, who are 7, 5 and 2. But its implications are not
restricted to children. Anyone under 40, he said, is destined
to live a life of unprecedented disaster exposure,
experiencing rates of extreme events that would have just a 1
in 10,000 chance of happening in a preindustrial world.
``It used to be a story of, like, `yeah we have to limit
global warming because of grandchildren,' `` he said. ``This
study is making clear that climate change has arrived. It's
everywhere.''
The numbers provided in the study are almost certainly an
underestimate, said co-author Joeri Rogelj, director of the
Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment at
Imperial College London. Data limitations, and the complexity
of the analysis, meant the scientists didn't assess the
increased risk of some hazards, such as coastal flooding from
sea level rise. The study also doesn't take into account the
increased severity of many events; it only looks at
frequency.
On the other hand, he noted, countries also have a chance
to adapt to the changes that are coming. If the world invests
in making communities safer--for example, installing flood
barriers, adopting fire-safe building codes, providing
shelter for people at risk from deadly heat--disasters don't
have to be as destructive for future generations as they are
for people today.
``Our aim is for this not to be the conclusion of this
debate,'' Rogelj said, ``but for this to be the start of
looking at the lived experience of children being born
today.''
Kim Cobb, a climate scientist at the Georgia Institute of
Technology who was not involved in the new research, called
it a ``robust study'' based on established findings from the
United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. As
a scientist, Cobb said, she was unsurprised by the results.
But Cobb is also a mother to four children. Reading the
report through that lens, she said, ``it brings into sharp
focus what so many economic models of climate change impacts
fail to capture--the vast toll of human suffering that is
hanging in the balance with our emissions choices this
decade.''
She added: ``The moral weight of this moment is almost
unbearable.''
In a report published in conjunction with Thiery's
findings, Save the Children International called on world
leaders to make the changes necessary to meet the 1.5 degree
Celsius target. Wealthy nations must also follow through on
their unmet pledge to give $100 billion per year to help low-
income countries curb their own emissions and adapt to
changes that are already underway, the group said.
Yolande Wright, who directs the nonprofit's climate
efforts, also hopes the findings will bolster legal efforts
to force climate action on behalf of children. Last year, a
federal appeals court threw out a case brought by 21 American
young people who argued that the government's failure to act
on climate change was a violation of their
rights. Similar cases have been filed in Portugal, Peru and
elsewhere.
``Now that we can really quantify how a child in their
lifetime will see so many more of these extreme events . . .
it helps make the case,'' Wright said.
Environmental attorney Dan Galpern, general counsel and
director of Climate Protection and Restoration Initiative,
agreed that ``anticipatory research'' like this can help
establish governments' and corporations' liability for real
harms experienced by kids.
Young people already say climate change has touched their
lives and harmed their mental health. In a recent survey of
16- to 25-year-olds, scientists found that three quarters of
respondents feared the future and more than half believed
they would have less opportunity than their parents. Nearly
60 percent said their governments had betrayed them and
future generations--making them feel even more anxious.
``The future for me and everyone who comes after is so
insecure,'' said Emanuel Smari Nielsen, a 14-year-old climate
activist from Norway. ``When politicians and those with power
do not do anything, it makes me feel tired. It almost makes
me angry.''
Adriana, the 6-year-old, said she feels ``super nervous''
when she thinks about what the future might hold. In those
moments, there's nothing that helps her feel better.
``I just wait till I'm done thinking about it,'' she said.
Experts say one way to help children cope with climate
anxiety is to help them feel empowered to do something about
it. The Save the Children report calls for communities,
countries and global institutions like the U.N. to give young
people a greater role in setting climate policy.
Cormac Buck, an 8-year-old from Savannah, Ga., has decided
to stop eating meat (except for the occasional chicken
nugget). He is part of a group of kids at his school who have
asked teachers and administrators to use fewer fossil fuels.
``Sometimes I hear some depressing things happening, like
some animals because of climate change are really close to
extinction . . . and I feel sad,'' he said. ``And then I
normally try to think of a way to stop that from happening
again.''
And adults must earn back children's trust, Thiery said, by
making the dramatic emissions reductions that have been so
long delayed. Our choices now will determine whether kids
grow up in a world with four times as many heat waves or
seven times as many heat waves, a world with occasional crop
failures or chronic food shortages.
``We can still avoid the worst consequences,'' he said.
``That is what gives me strength as a father . . . Their
future is in our hands.''
Mr. Speaker, the safety of our children is central to our country's well-being, and we must ensure that, for its part, the Department of Homeland Security is equipped to consider these needs.
The Homeland Security for Children Act would ensure the unique needs of children are taken into account throughout the Department by mandating the DHS Secretary direct all components and offices to consider children when creating policies and implementing programs.
It specifically directs the Department to seek feedback from organizations that represent children when developing and carrying out policies and programs.
H.R. 4426 would also permanently authorize a ``children's technical expert'' within the Federal Emergency Management Agency to prioritize the interests of children in emergency preparedness, response, and recovery initiatives.
Lastly, the legislation, as introduced by my colleague from New Jersey (Mr. Payne) would require DHS to report to Congress on the Department's work to incorporate children's interests throughout all its work.
Mr. Speaker, for these reasons, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 4426, the Homeland Security for Children Act, and I reserve the balance of my time.
House of Representatives, Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure,
Washington, DC, September 23, 2021.
Hon. Bennie G. Thompson,
Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security,
House of Representatives. Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Thompson: I write concerning H.R. 4426, the
Homeland Security for Children Act. There are certain
provisions in this legislation that fall within the Rule X
jurisdiction of the Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure.
In order to expedite floor consideration of H.R. 4426, the
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure agrees to
forgo action on the bill. However, this is conditional on our
mutual understanding that forgoing consideration of the bill
would not prejudice the Committee with respect to the
appointment of conferees or to any future jurisdictional
claim over the subject matters contained in the bill or
similar legislation that fall within the Committee's Rule X
jurisdiction. I also request that you urge the Speaker to
name members of this Committee to any conference committee
which is named to consider such provisions.
Please place a copy of this letter and your response
acknowledging our jurisdictional interest into the committee
report on H.R. 4426 and into the Congressional Record during
consideration of the measure on the House floor.
Sincerely,
Peter A. Defazio,
Chair.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, our Nation's children need our help. Natural disasters have impacted one in three Americans. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, over 5.5 million children have tested positive, and conditions are not trending in the right direction.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, last week, with kids back at school, the number of infected children had exponentially risen to the third highest level since the beginning of the pandemic.
As a partner to schools, which are critical to infrastructure, the Department of Homeland Security has a critical mission to play in helping to protect children. To do so effectively, it is critical that children's unique needs are front and center in DHS programs and policies. Enactment of the Homeland Security for Children Act will do just that.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 4426, and I yield back the balance of my time.
