PUA Eligibility Clarification Act of 2021

Mr. President, I rise today to speak on the United States Climate Leadership on International Mitigation, Adaptation, and Technology Enhancement Act of 2021--the U.S. CLIMATE Act. Mr. President, climate change represents a clear and present threat to the stability, security and prosperity of nations around the world, including the United States. The cost of climate-induced disasters becomes more indisputable and devastating with every passing year. Barring swift and ambitious action, the situation will only worsen.

We've all seen the devastating impacts of climate change. For years, unprecedented tropical storms have destroyed communities in Mozambique, Central America, and the United States, including communities in my home state of New Jersey. This past February, incredibly abnormal and brutal winter weather, exacerbated by climatic disruption to the Arctic's polar vortex, killed eleven people and left thousands in Texas without power and water. Less than a year prior, deadly wildfires, exacerbated by climate change engulfed California, killing 31 people, and Australia, killing 34 people, and forced thousands to flee their homes and lose their livelihoods. And yet, while hurricanes and storm surges are horrific, climate change is also increasing the intensity, length and geographic expanse of droughts around the world contributing to food insecurity, natural resource scarcity and desertification.

Likewise, intensifying effects of climate change pose an existential threat to hundreds of millions of people and exacerbate global forced migration. Nations like Bangladesh, India, and Indonesia are incredibly vulnerable to mass displacement due to rising sea levels. Island nations like Tuvalu, Seychelles, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and Kiribati are already managing internal migration due to climate change induced sea-level rise. Without ambitious action to both keep global leverage temperatures well below an increase of two degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels it is forecasted that the entirety of certain nations may become uninhabitable within my grandchildren's lifetime. It is a moral imperative for the Senators in this body, and humanity, to act to ensure that is not the world we leave for the generations that will come after us. Today's generations are the first people to personally and regularly experience the effects of climate change on the natural world and its impact on humanity . . . and we are also the last generations that can, and must, act to prevent the worst forecasts from becoming reality.

Changing climate and weather patterns intensification of global food insecurity and resource scarcity especially threaten the lives and security of the world's most vulnerable populations. For months, heavy rainfall and warmer temperatures have triggered a locust plague in East Africa that has lasted more than an entire year. This historic locust plague--triggered by conditions exacerbated by climate change--has threatened agricultural and pastoral livelihoods and worsened already acute food insecurity in the region. At the same time, similar extreme weather patterns are expected to expand and shift the ranges of life- threatening diseases like malaria, West Nile Virus, cholera, and others. Beyond the palpable destruction and devastation of climate- induced crises, climate change is a ``threat multiplier,'' a term coined by the CNA Corporation's Military Advisory Board in 2007 to express the way in which climate change exacerbates instability; conflict and subsequent displacement; terrorism; and other vital security matters.

Clearly, climate change does not begin nor end at any nation's borders. No one is immune to the effects of climate change--which is why we must not only work with the rest of the

world to combat this crisis, but lead the charge. It is simply not enough to enact robust domestic policies--this is a global problem that requires internationally collaborative solutions. What's more, our leadership and renewed international engagement can generate opportunities for Americans. By committing to international agreements and adhering to emerging international production norms, we are opening the global markets for the innovation, ingenuity, and leadership of the American private sector.

I commend the Biden administration's commitment to returning the United States to the global stage, thereby granting us the capacity to reengage and lead the international community in tackling the greatest threat of our time. President Biden's Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad has designated climate action as a core tenant of U.S. diplomacy and national security planning. He has appointed former Secretary of State John Kerry as Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, ensuring that climate considerations have a strong advocate where important decisions are being made. And, under the leadership of President Biden, the United States has officially rejoined the Paris Agreement.

The time for debate and discussion on why and how we must tackle this crisis is over. The science is clear: we must achieve net zero emissions by 2050 in order to ensure a safe and prosperous future for ourselves and our posterity. Now is the time for action and implementation of crucial efforts to save our planet.

Congress can and must do more to support the restoration of the United States' climate diplomacy and leadership. That is why I am introducing the United States Climate Leadership in International Mitigation, Adaptation, and Technological Enhancement Act, or the U.S. CLIMATE Act, of 2021, a comprehensive piece of legislation to bolster President Biden's bold commitment to U.S. climate leadership by providing resources, programs and policy to support and expedite the realization of United States action that will be essential to regaining the international community's trust and partnership with the U.S. in the global climate fight. It represents a bold course of action that Congress should take to support forward-looking leadership in the White House in their commitment to preventing the worst-case scenarios of climate change from becoming reality.

Title I of the bill establishes climate change as a cross-cutting imperative at the State Department. It also calls for the integration of climate models and forecasting into national security planning across all federal agencies and features directives on protecting our security and environmental interests in the Arctic.

Title II declares support for U.S. cooperation and engagement in international agreements. This includes directives on re-entry into the Paris Agreements; ratification of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocols; compliance with environmental initiatives of the International Civil Aviation Organization; and the establishment of new international efforts to mitigate transportation sector and greenhouse gas emissions.

Title III integrates climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts into a range of tools and initiatives at USAID, the Department of the Treasury, the Department of State, the DFC, and the United Nations.

Title IV incorporates a clean energy mandate into the United States' diplomatic and development efforts, thereby protecting our own energy security interests and promoting responsible global energy production.

Title V of the bill addresses the United States' bilateral and multilateral engagement on climate change, encouraging U.S. cooperation with China, India, the European Union and other key partners.

Title VI of the U.S. CLIMATE Act integrates our colleague from Hawai'i, Senator Hirono's Women and Climate Change Act, which acknowledges and addresses the disproportionate effects of climate change on women and girls around the world.

The science is clear: we are running out of time to stave off the most devastating effects of climate change that will directly impact our children and our children's children. After four years of being absent from the conversation, it is time for the United States to not only return to the table, but lead the charge to protect our shared home. We cannot solve this crisis alone--this is not an American problem, this is a global crisis that can only be combatted with coordinated, international action. The U.S. CLIMATE Act of 2021 provides the essential resources, programs, and support for the United States to lead the world forward in the existential fight to save our planet. Mr. President I ask unanimous consent that the full text of the legislation be printed in the Record following my remarks, I yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum.

So ordered.

Mr. President, I want to share with my colleagues some information regarding the Reconnecting Communities Act, a bill that I have introduced today along with my colleagues Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Cardin, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mr. Padilla, Mr. Warnock, Mr. Schumer and Mr. Coons. This legislation would address the legacy of highway construction built through communities, especially through low-income communities and communities of color, which divided neighborhoods and erected barriers to mobility and opportunity. This legislation implements a central piece of President Biden's American Jobs Plan, which calls for new Federal funding to address the need to remove infrastructure barriers in communities that have been historically disadvantaged and disconnected.

The construction of our interstate highway system throughout the 20th Century had many positive aspects. It facilitated commerce and travel from coast to coast and connected our urban, suburban and rural areas. However, the construction of highways through established neighborhoods and cities also had a detrimental impact on the people who called those places home.

Blocks of homes were torn down and vibrant commercial streets razed to make way for new highway construction, often without any input from the people who actually lived, worked, and owned businesses there. Many of these neighborhoods never fully recovered, and the highways divided cities, making it difficult to get from one side to the other. This stifled economic development and opportunity for those who were left behind.

In the 1950s and 60s, the construction of I-95 through Wilmington, Delaware resulted in the demolition of homes, churches, and businesses, and cut off neighbors from each other. The ability to easily walk to the store or to church, or to have a sense of community that living in a vibrant city brings, was destroyed for many people who lived near that path of the interstate. And this is not unique to Wilmington. From Baltimore to New Orleans, cities across the country are grappling with what to do with aging interstates blighting their neighborhoods.

The Reconnecting Communities Act is designed to address this legacy of our highway system by funding projects that would remove or reimagine infrastructure barriers, including elevated highway overpasses and highways that were built below grade. The bill would authorize $15 billion over the next five years to establish a new federal grant program at the Department of Transportation to help States and local entities with planning, construction and local capacity building. Specifically, it would do the following:

First, the bill would provide grants to local and Tribal governments, Metropolitan Planning Organizations and non-profits, to help foster a greater capacity for local communities to participate in the planning and decision-making process for transportation and economic development projects. This would help to ensure that new projects meet local needs.

Second, it would provide grants for planning and feasibility studies, including studies to look at the effect of a project on traffic and congestion, accessibility and equity.

Third, it would provide grants to carry out construction projects that would either remove a highway infrastructure barrier, or re- envision or retrofit the existing structure to improve mobility across it. This includes capping a highway like I-95 in Wilmington. or transforming a highway into an at-grade roadway as has been envisioned in other States.

As communities across the Nation are beginning to reimagine their downtowns to provide more sustainable and equitable access, this bill will support local efforts to reconnect and revitalize areas that were harmed by the construction of the Interstate Highway System.

I would like to thank my colleagues who have joined me by cosponsoring the Reconnecting Communities Act. In particular, I am appreciative of the leadership of the junior senator from Maryland, Mr. Van Hollen, who helped to bring this issue to the attention of the Environment and Public Works Committee last Congress.

I hope that all of my colleagues will join us to advance this important legislation, which I will be working to include in our comprehensive surface transportation reauthorization bill this year.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.