Climate Change: Congress Warned About 'High Risk' Posed By Global Shifts

WASHINGTON -- The federal government's official watchdog had a message for Congress on Thursday: Hey, Stupid, the climate is changing.







He did allow that the GAO was staying away from the debate on why the climate is changing.

"We are not focusing on what's causing these changes. We know that there are efforts under way to deal with emission issues, so that's a policy matter for the Congress," he said. "We think there's enough scientific evidence to show, regardless of whether anything else changes, there's enough problems identified."

Still, while President Barack Obama has proposed making a stronger push to deal with climate change, and leaders in the Senate have praised him for it, the idea has received a chilly reception from leaders in the House.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the chairman of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, joined Dodaro at the press conference to emphasize that it doesn't matter whether lawmakers agree on climate change, the effects are nonetheless occurring, and Congress should plan.

"We're recognizing that we have under-appropriated and under-prepared for a wide variety of disasters," Issa said. "If they're occurring more, not less, if we're seeing an absence of indexing for inflation, those are all areas that legitimately put it at high risk," Issa added, even while indicating he has some skepticism on the climate front.

"I hope all members of Congress on both sides of the issue recognize that it's really not about where you are on climate change, how much CO2 is being emitted -- which, by the way, has gone down, not up -- it's really about recognizing that Congress has not adjusted for the amount of money we are paying out," Issa said.

The cost issue was one of the prime factors Dodaro cited in deciding to take the potential political risk of officially elevating the threat.

"We also believe the timing is right because of the federal government's fiscal position," Dodaro said. "We can no longer afford to take on these huge costs that occur as a result of disasters, and we need to prepare properly. We think we have a sound case."

Rep. Elijah Cummings (Md.), the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, had the starkest warning for his colleagues.

"This landmark action by the nonpartisan experts at GAO ... is a wake-up call for Congress to finally start addressing this issue," Cummings said Thursday. "GAO warns that climate change is real, its impacts are already being felt, and its consequences will be devastating if we continue to ignore it."




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