Cop28

Floor Speech

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Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, let me just underscore Senator Whitehouse's role in the CBAM that he has talked about, because that sets up a level playing field on carbon--the real price of carbon--so we are not at a competitive disadvantage. We have got to catch up to what Europe is doing. We have got to join the group. And Senator Whitehouse has been the champion of pointing out that there is a price that we all pay because of carbon emissions, and we asked our companies to do it in a friendlier way. They need to be on a level playing field with their competitors--of course, China being of principal concern. These CBAM proposals will establish that level playing field and put American producers on a level playing field if we join with these efforts.

Senator Carper, who chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee, has been the key leader in the U.S. engagement on the climate agenda. Through his leadership, we were able to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, which has been the envy of the world, for a commitment on the energy agenda.

But he also was responsible for the bipartisan infrastructure bill, and it had a heavy diet of greener transportation programs, establishing a way that we can electrify our transportation fleet with charging stations. All that came under Senator Carper's leadership.

And then there is the Kigali protocol. So we were able to ratify that through our committee, through his leadership. So he has been the real champion and leader for the U.S. Senate on these aggressive policies to be a leader in the world on climate issues, and I am proud to serve on this committee, along with the Presiding Officer. We have a real champion and leader in Senator Carper.

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Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, let me again thank Senator Carper for his leadership on these issues.

We are joined by Senator Markey.

If we would have passed Senator Markey's bill in the Senate that passed the House, we would not be in this position today. He has been a leader on climate issues for several decades now and has really been the champion on raising the consciousness that we all have responsibilities for this one globe.

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Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, let me thank Senator Markey again for his extraordinary leadership.

I want to also acknowledge Josh Klein for the work that he did as our staff person for COP28.

Madam President, Senator Wyden is on the floor. I know he is planning to speak on Martin O'Malley to be the next Administrator of the Social Security Administration, but I want to take this time to thank Senator Wyden for his leadership on the climate agenda.

We marked up in the Senate Finance Committee the energy provisions that ended up in the Inflation Reduction Act well before the Inflation Reduction Act was put together as a package. And it was the work that Senator Wyden led in the Finance Committee that provides the predictability to the future of our Tax Code to reward renewable energies.

We were asked in the COP meetings: What happens if there are changes in elections, will America still be strong on the climate? And we pointed out our Tax Code, which we have been able to continue tax provisions. And Senator Wyden has led the effort to make sure we have a strong tax base to reward renewable energy sources so that we can do exactly what Senator Markey said: transition off of fossil fuels to renewables.

I just really want to acknowledge the work that Senator Wyden has done on the climate agenda. And he was a very popular person in Dubai, even though he was not there.

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