I want to go back to the slide about replacing announcer you can watch all this discussion at www. Cspan. Org. We take you now live to the u. S. Capitol. It is question with House Science Committee don meyer. He is expected to talk about the potential impact of the Trump Administrations this Mission Decision to withdraw from the paris climate agreement. Just Getting Started here on cspan. Certainly with the cooperation of the United States in many countries around the world begin to plan for the future of world local development would apply not only to the least developed countries but just as well equally and universally to the critical state of affairs for human inhts and for development the bestequipped countries, including the United States. Out of that conversation can this extraordinary set of Sustainable Development goals to help lead the way for all countries voluntarily to collaborate in how we will achieve the outcomes of those goals as set we were just years into this. Already, the significant progress. Theres the progress of the millennium Development Goals that were extraordinarily comessful by focusing across the world, the attention of development agencies. Focusing the attention of will find 196 nations this opportunity for voluntary cooperation to carry us forward. Probably all of you are well familiar with that so im warning you. And ill tell you more about this. We are extraordinarily honored this afternoon that we introduce congressman buyer, a great supporter of international engagement, Foreign Affairs, speaking well of the United Nations, and serving as one of our leading ambassadors. We are so grateful he is here. I am particularly delighted as well that our moderator is a colleague of mine, dr. George an extraordinary leader on the process and engagement of the u. S. Congress on Foreign Affairs through his work on International Development modernization. Will be further introduced in time. Let me introduce paul boland, our executive director. Im voluntary. Thank youied out at very much. [applause] good afternoon. Good afternoon everyone. House. Ed to see a full thank you so much. Not only for hosting us this afternoon, but for being a champion. Now more than ever, we need champions in the u. S. Congress. Mission of the whole association of the usa is to educate and mobilize americans for a strong u. S. Yuan partnership. Thats more critical than ever before. As Foreign Affairs other people are facing more than ever , our efforts to educate and mobilize our communities to support the work of the United Nations and its many specialized agencies extreme to date you are going to learn more about global goals, in particular on climate needs tond white this be and you need to be an active voice in your community. If you have not yet joined the United Nations association of youcapital area i hope will consider doing it. Theres much and get out of that network. You can join committees, we focus on many different issues the yearround, modern u. N. A program that we do for High School Students we partner with several organizations. Its wonderful for networking, bringing these goals to the local level. Thats what we have been doing over the last few years here to read consultation and programs like the one for Sustainable Development committee has been putting together. This is sponsored by our development committee. Is been organized and led by a very active committee member, who has been a pleasure to work with the thinking very much for his tireless work and commitment. I want to take a few seconds to think cspan. Collaboration and Foreign Affairs in professionals in Foreign Policy and also our partners intellectual property attorneys. President thank you so very much. Buyers gressman the congressmans office that we do this today. We look forward to your active engagement so we can make a difference. We are the Largest Networks of of americans in support of in session United Nations the United States. Get involved. Thank you so much. Duke. Homas [applause] on thank you, paula, for such a warm introduction. Good afternoon. I would like to personally welcome all of you here to discuss such an important issue. Carsten john buyer and mr. George ingram my name is thomas leo, im a senior at this high school load located in mclean, virginia. Event lead for todays program. Id like to thank my parents. Theyve encouraged and guided me to become the person that i am today. Welll the dads out here as , the same goes for you. Would also like to think an individual for her would do not know i wouldnt have the courage and ability to organize this event. That individual is no one other than mr. Elmendorf a a usa. Nt of you and i want to thank him for his support. Unfortunately, you cant be here today. He went on to secure my position as a committee member. This is rare for people to join patch up at my age to join such a prestigious as to shop. Actively leaving on behalf of of our committee. Or i had the opportunity to learn more about him, and be here today on behalf of them. As a Court Provider core andider, thanks to cspan others for covering todays event. We are with nexus media live as well to help encourage our audiences. He sure to follow at you and a unanca. Ou we will take questions afterwards. Action. On this afternoon, we are gathered here to talk about United Nations at climate action. According to the u. S. , Climate Change presents the single biggest threat to development and is unprecedented. Ins disproportionately april of 2016, under the u. S. s leadership, Member States of the the parisions cited climate agreement, which set the states for ambitious change. President trump decided to withdraw from the paris climate agreement on june 1. Its important for people to reaffirm the leaders that United States has to play. Especially, on issues like this. Congressman buyer isnt on the micro model. Hes fighting against global Climate Change. Worked for his campaign several years ago, when they encouraged him to say and be involved in not only policy, but politics. It was an intern during his reelection campaign. Cumbersome and buyer served as Lieutenant Governor of the president of Virginia State senate, and most importantly under president obama. Let me briefly state that there this will be followed by a conversation between mr. Buyer and mr. Ingram. He served as the u. S. Political leader and is also senior fellow for the Global Economy and civil development. Were pleased to have congressman buyer here today to be the third member of congress to speak about the u. S. s role and importance of United Nations sustainability goals. He will also provide a lawmakers perspective on the need for strong your ship in the u. S. Most importantly, on climate action. , themy honor to welcome champion. [applause] that is now my favorite introduction of my whole life. [laughter] thank you. I guess fluttery wont kill you as long as you dont inhale it. [laughter] the one thing that he got right is cash that may not i may not be the greatest champion but i was running for office in 2014. The simplest promise i made is that i would be the strongest, clearest voice that i could eat to combat Climate Change. Sometimes its not so much important to be the best, as it is to try your hardest. By the way, tom goes to Langley High School in virginia, which is to be the Number One High School in virginia. Then they created Thomas Jefferson magnet school. The simplest most honest answer i spoke please. My primary is 2013. Its 10 of us on the ballot. Ballot. The average primary voter was a 62yearold woman. We couldnt see anybody under the age of 50. Thanks for being a great role model for your generation. Think i think the generation above the two. There are more people in this room and there are and the rest of building. Feels boiled, i am a member of congress that lives substance to the capital. Alexander is closer than others, who lives in the city. Im delighted to be able to come everybodyork with else in texas, california, things like that. Humbled the u. S. To me to talk about the u. N. And Climate Change. I feel very connected first, to the lead one. Family history my grandmother , my role model until she died at 98 and a half, was in geneva in 1945 as part of an american delegation to organize the stash she served as our u. S. Representative to the ilo 4557. They involuntarily kicked her out of this. The kicked her out at age 82. For the women in the room. In 1972, just for the kicked her offered the percy amendment to the u. S. Foreign relations act. As she went around the world to 150 countries, she noticed that usaid money was for training and education, unequally spent almost completely on men and boys. The First Amendment says that it has to be spent equally on men and women treat thats part of the law. Thats one of the great pieces. A free in trieste territory, which is the United Nations protectorate from 194519th d3. My dad was over there as u. S. Army keeping the peace. My United Nations protectorate doesnt exist anymore. Ability serving the u. S. Congress. [laughter] my families from estonia, denmark, germany, belgium, france, england, scotland. Miles child was adopted from dublin, ireland. Lots and lots of international connections. Feeling very to all of the rest of the world. Im a democrat, he left and center democrat. In the first term, maybe my proudest moment was being one of only 28 democrats to vote for trade Promotion Authority for president obama. I was a strong supporter of the and ancific Partnership Investment partnership with europe. Going back to brinton woods, by the time was born. World today,t the its so different from the 1950s. Because of our international efforts, trade, United Nations. Because of u. S. A id and the eight organizations around the inld, there is a great piece the sunday papers two days ago, giant pulled out quickly before reading them slowly and just about i believe the number was 137,000 People Per Day lifted out of poverty. I had dinner with a bunch of Board Members of some Corporation Last night and talked about what we are doing on capitol hill to address poverty. The chairman of this corporation next to me said, they just need , some fox newser perspective on poverty. I said, what about those 137,000 people a day that we have been poverty . Is that people who all decided to work hard . The leadership we provide to make all that different also, one last thought. To switzerland of liechtenstein. There were four other ambassadors would sort all in geneva. World health organization. The Human Rights Commission when i got here, the first thing i did was read the Inspector General report on my mission. , thousand or inkind and kind. O the previous ambassador it was very unkind to the permanent representative to the u. N. Had thrown y sidebyside on the geneva airport. They said, its a problem that the two ambassadors hated each other. They are both Texas Republicans and didnt get along in the embassies or at all. I had the opportunity to meet person who is our u. S. Ambassador to the United Nations the first week. We hugged and kissed and decided we would be the opposite for the next four years, best friends. It made such an enormous difference to have people working closely together. I want to bring that up because there was the North Carolina senator who names i had people my age here will remember. People to cook with the confirmation of our massacre to anyone in new york for most of the second clinton turned. It is number two there and wrote he was a Principal Staff person. Once again, i feel very connected to all of this. When you first get to congress i ask you what committees you want to be on. I said ways and means, appropriation, energy and commerce. I got my seventh and eighth choices, which were science and the National Resources committee. They said twitter the uses of adversity that i love the committees i am on. They are so incredibly relevant to this. And, whats really important to me. Unfortunate that in order to want to have ad hominem attacks, but its widely known as the antiscience committee. That doesntmined leave that kind of change is real or that a man made, or if there is there is nothing we can do about. Our Climate Change hearings are intending to do dominated by Climate Change deniers who prefer to call themselves skeptics. We hear a lot, its not real, the world is cooling. People are predicting an ice age back to the 1970s. Its too late. A difficult Committee Committee to work on because of that. I talk about the National Resources committee, which is different but once again tends to be dominated by people who dont believe that Climate Change is real. On the committee the committee these of public land. My perspective is this. All federal land should be given back to this date to get as much to and oil to the states get gas and oil, rather than be preserved for the long run. And yet, when i discovered in america is the only country in the world where the vast majority of the population does not understand the Climate Change is real and affects us each and every day. We have to fight that in every way that we can. So i lived in Northern Virginia. At the four largest defense contractors all based in my district. I was visiting one of the big four recently. A poster that is shows the city of norfolk, virginia, which looks at as a graph it storm surges in norfolk how often the city is submerged. From 19 30 through today. You see that surgeons are higher every year and more frequent every year. What starts off as small graphs comes very high and very dense. Away toxtended it all 205030 three years from now, norfolk is flooded every day of the year. At our Climate Change. Two or three weeks ago we had with generals and investors, professors, and a admiral who ran the Norfolk Naval this, he told us that this routine now in Virginia Beach to norfolk Virginia Beach that when you leave work in the morning you can check the newspaper and radio to see which roads are open and have not and flooded because of Climate Change and the seed surge and all of that. The city itself 14 and Sea Level Rise in the last 20 years. The 20 years might be 25 but its an awful lot, among the worst here. So obviously it knows no borders. The ideas that we have to somehow come together my wife and i went to denmark in december of 2009. We were over in switzerland anyway, thought it was really important. Frightening because you had all these countries ready to act on Climate Change. In the Big Four Companies india and china. Were saying consistently day after day saying they after day, you got rich by burning , distributing greenhouse gases, now you want to cut back, and youre not doing anything. You have no leadership. For 10 days of the cap the conference went on, as the world from farther away from any kind of construction constructive acts on Climate Change dish baracklast 33 days, obama, a temperate president somewhat, fluent and saved it. Some truly, ar bunch of voluntary goals, and sort of snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. But it was very frightening. The message that was loudest and clear that the u. S. Leads, no one else will. If we dont show our seriousness, why should anybody else take us seriously and move forward with mark i am very proud of what obama did in his eight years as president , despite virtually zero actions by congress. Nothing happening in the house. In the senate well, the house passed a cab and trade bill the first term that went nowhere in the senate. Note them nothing in the second term. Despite that, the u. S. Has greatest improvements in u. S. Gas emissions between 2016 in 2011. On an im an automobile dealer. With a from 19922008 corporate average fuel economy standard of 22 miles per gallon. This meant that every engineering progress made over those 16 years went into bigger, faster, stronger expeditions and things like that. And obama came in and they raised it from 2236. Manufacturers complained for a couple of weeks. Quickly they added the 36 miles per gallon. This was all four cylinder. Now they had a plan to go to 45 this one is 55 miles per gallon. An enormous difference. He looked at the government federal governments greatest source of greenhouse emissions, federal buildings. They made enormous investment in the infrastructure. So we were, despite no action by congress one of the things that i promise to be a part of what i fixed, we came a long way. In switzerland, whats so fascinating is you get there, you listen to people say, i dont want to be one of those socialist countries, where the quality of life is so bad. Please laugh. The quality of life in switzerland is tremendous. [laughter] their Carbon Footprint is onethird one third of what ours is. They have great lives. They found a way to do it with one third of the carbon from footprint. We have to have Global Leadership, which is why it was tragic that President Trump stalks into pulling us out of her Supreme Industries not a surprise as this is the guy that tweeted that Climate Change was a chinese hoax and is not real, and we have to end the war on coal and bring the coal jobs back. We have an hundred 70 members of congress led by Brad Schneider out of illinois. Calls for the u. S. To remain in the agreement. Begging him to stay in the agreement. All of our lives, the United States has been the leader in in the economy, security, fighting terrorism, improving the environment in so many different ways. Now, in the most important of all the special issue of our century, we have given up leadership. N we are most needed congress has written in and again about the consequences of not adapting to Climate Change. One in every 50 new jobs in the u. S. The single greatest job category, news category that needs people fill is this engineer. If an interview you are looking directly, what your kids need to do go to school for engineers. The whole world is going out of bounds. Lucy with trade tpp, the transpacific partnership, 26 things that get together with japan who do what we should have done. Now those countries are stepping forward to do on Climate Change and green energy what we should be leaving and doing on. This is terrific. Before stepping out and saying, we will do everything we can to make independent household and companies of vermont as independent of the greatest we can make them. That is the way to move forward. We are taking this exit ramp just when the intense commercial opportunity that adapting to paris would bring to every one of us. The table. Eeded you know, our seat at the table. Theres so many other things we do to the other countries that weve added sacrifice. T after president s transcript of this conversation with the president the prime minister. China israel japan, the european union, russia, iran, also france, everybody was part of paris. Joining us ine rejecting it are syria and nicaragua. Im not sure thats the company we want to be proud of keeping. As Paris Agreement is seeing Sustainable Development goals 2017 are coming alive in public policy. You know policy, all about Climate Change. 13 and 17. A thing of 17 is as important to work for as 13. David fechter is a professor at the university of california san diego. Says, the u. S. Is not just for protecting the environment but managing immigration, sharing intelligence, slowing the spread of new were weapons, avoiding pandemics, and a host of other things that Americans Care about. The rest of the world sits idly by as the country who traditionally has been the main supplier of Global Public goods has a vacuum in leadership. Change one of the nations greatest security threats, you want to be optimistic for a minute that we just assign the National Defense authorization act just before we got out at the end of june cut end of july. In. Important. My friend bill foster the only phd physicist in congress, he was able to attic amendment commitment in committee that said Climate Change is a National Security priority. And some bad of folks try to take it out on the house and got bless we had enough republicans cantre the democrats take it out. It is now part of the National Press authorization act as it goes to the senate. Norfolk i levels in talked about. Its also about putting ice this is come up in the top of the northern hemisphere. Syria, rising temperatures, what we heard from admirables admirals again and again is it creates so many internal security frictions and tensions that we are going to have to respond to. Its now part of the long piece of the last major war 1945 to 1945 ivil wars mostly caused by fight resources that were aggravated by Climate Change. Proud states are reacting. Im glad of governor mcauliffe, our attorney general, virginia has been one of the first states to step up and say, even after the u. S. Withdraws from paris, the u. S. Does not. Over 1000 businesses people have said they will go along with it. Lots of people are committing to low carbon policies. 400 u. S. Cities have committed to cut carbon pollution. I promise you i will be the forngest at kid i can be staying in paris, rejoining paris when the appropriate leadership is back in place. To view as resolutely optimistic as we can be. I was thinking about the machiavelli there some diseases that are very difficult to recognize early on but if you to treat. Somewhere where we are right now on Climate Change. The scientist, the report leaked outy, again clearly points how dangerous Climate Change has been for the rest of the world. We just have to get u. S. Leadership out there. The rest of the world will come along and follow our lead. At the moment pray they dont. I would love to take your russians. Im so glad dr. Ingram is here to answer the really good ones. Thank you very much for inviting me. [applause] microphones on. Thank you very much. Great introduction to the topic. My first first of all, what welcome you to this meeting. You must have one third of the room are your constituents . I hope so. [laughter] my first question to you was meng to pay, how do you get to be from being a car is car salesman to this in the believer in a u. N. You point that. Did your blood. I grew up across the whole working for Foreign Affairs. My first exposure to the percy amendment percy was a republican senator from illinois who was very progressive member of the senate. Percy amendment and went to asia. In what i saw there, what i came back with was women doing the work in the fields. The men were in the village the coffee shop. The women were unloading the blocks. Of cement the driver was sitting on the curb watching. That really socialized me to be important pertinent of the percy amendment, paying extra special attention to bringing women into the development process. Basically in many countries, 50 of the population of the country is left out of the economic progress. Im so pleased you know about it. Its a wonderful thing. Theres two different pieces there. One is the elevation of women. And no thats one of the Development Goals incredibly important one. Caramel on it, and member of congress from the others t side of new york, i have the secondmost educated congressional districts in the country. She has the first. We have been working together on congressional resolutions and trying to get more women in corporate leadership. We find the companies that want women on their boards more women percys is, run faster a market cap more profitable. Countries that have more women and leadership once again have greater gdp is. Somethingief author called the fair representation act which is among the other tax, should increase the number of women in congress by an enormous percentage. Both parties will have a huge incentive to put women on their slate. I went to williams college, a tiny little thing in western massachusetts. In only graduate program was development economics. As an economics major every professor i had was a development economist. They would spend all their summers and growing economies. Intellectual background i was raised in before we get into this im sure that the newspaper report you referenced is on everybodys mind. For anybody who didnt see it, theres a government report written by 13 Government Agency is based on thousands of studies , which is, according to the report, the most solid documentation humanitarian Climate Change. There is an issue now as to whether or not the administration will release the report. This committee get access to unfiltered copy of it, and what can you all do to make sure that we see the original report. The majority members in my committee make access to it if they ask for. Advocates routinely shared with us. Report will and initiative tonight like this. This gotten leaked. Thank goodness its in the public sphere sphere and we can now look at it and. Of course we have seen so many people fail, from know what because they feel that they are in a position where strengthened leadership is going to suppress their viewpoint, moved on to it place for they are not relevant. The wish that were not true. Climate change one of the things i have been arguing for years as the Climate Change should not be a partisan issue, should not be democrats against republicans, liberals against conservatives. We should be looking at the science, facts together. You talk about the need for government leadership and Climate Change. You also talk about the fact that there is a lot going on at the local level and corporations. Like yourself, i am an optimist. I see whats happening in the corporate community. Some of theegies of large multinational corporations, i was struck by how many of them are embedded in some strategies. As one company i looked at that has committed to go Carbon Neutral by 2020. It has stayed, 500 million saved 500 million on energy. I look at that, i see what the corporations have done, the pledges that the thousands of corporations you have mentioned, the mayors and cities. I say to myself, ok. Bad theys not that dont have federal leadership. Maybe at the local level through corporations, private citizens, we will get 80 or 90 of where we would have been with strong federal initiation anyway. I take a leadership very important. Where do come out on this question mark we will get a bye ok by okane the next 3. 5 years and make progress. I think we will continue to make progress in many ways. Also things where we step back. I dont want to be particularly partisan, but looking at 7 67 months that the new president has come and come of major agenda has been rolling it back. An water and labor day this could hurt us over the next couple of years. But you are right. There are many other pieces of our economy and society that move forward. Im the a huge proponent of the a carbon tax. Im not alone. As talking to the chairman precious ceo of ups last night. Drive all those brown trucks around, we can stand against this increase, especially if it goes to helping infrastructure. , Rex Tillerson was for a carbon tax. Police when he said were exxon mobil. There are very real things we can do. Get a different reaction to Climate Change across the country. Miles traveled, where they lived, the decisions they make about appliances. Really important ways. Thats not going to happen at a local level. Im not aware of any member of on aess getting elected platform of a carbon tax. That is fairly unique. I was pretty clear in 2014. That leads to my question of, how do you talk to your constituents question mark and know what you say you are norfork because you told us that. Norfolk is a fairly sophisticated community. Tied tommunities are the Defense Industry to the Global Economy the way norfolk is. You have more role we were role areas. But you say when youre in more conservative neighborhoods, and what sort of questions to this have . I was a governor for eight years. I had the statewide experience in tobacco fields, coalfields, shenandoah valley. I dont right now. Right now. D in arlington it was a dreadful strip. Everyone is smarter than i am. I have more members of , moressionals anybody federal employees so i never need to talk down to have financial to people. Its wonderful. Out that i deeply believe that the best leaders are the ones who think longterm, not just about the next election the 102015 years down the road. We think long term than Climate Change just straight out as the biggest thing we have to deal with. Also, so many issues look different than you think about them over a generation immigration, for example. When you could to some place lets take this, coal jobs. Abouta lot harder to talk Climate Change there come a but you still have to do it. I know that people at mark warner and tim kaine, that have to campaign and coalfields, they talk about the fact that Climate Change is real, affecting these families, and we have to find new ways forward. Is, the Obama Administration despite its socalled war on coal to spend more money on new Coal Technology than any administration before it. Theyre trying to find ways to help the communities. Rogers, a republican from the coalfields of eastern tucky, and to others sponsors of this act, which was a matter of taking the phase two clinical coal mines to clean up the economy for this whole community. It isnt either or. We can find ways to forward. Is the jobs issue working with Climate Change question mark the investment of the automobile industries, you look at the areas, thein some investment is going into wind and solar, being competitive with traditional cash to network with constituents question mark and the potential for u. S. Competitiveness . That best when its happening in those places where it is happening. In oklahoma, those members of congress, both political leaders investmentt the wind has created a lot of jobs and revenue. The people in Northern Virginia dont care so much about those job, but they do realize that theres a lot going on there, that these industries are growing quickly. What strikeses, about this global goal is the millennium Development Goals of specificly a set donors togned to get provide more foreign assistance to developing countries. Messages are much different. They are universal, supposed to i to all countries. Theres little focus in the scg assistance. Istance was a lot of focus on to generating revenues on domestic resource mobilization, and on the role of the private sector. Is therent is there not attention in the congress to this, and appreciation and that they are supposed to apply to america, and in some to the american nature and spirit, the fact that they bring the private sector in to help them to achieve these . 40 im not on the ford affairs committee, im not an appropriations, so perhaps it comes up in those conversations. In the committees im on, the general debate on the floor, ive never heard either one engine. The thing is thats a charge to this audience, because it is clear that members of congress are not hearing from constituents come up from the advocacy groups about Sustainable Development goals. Before i turned to the audience to join this conversation, and let me say i this is being live streamed and there will be questions from outside this room, this group of policy arevists, some of whom political activists as well, how they could he involved in bringing the role of the fhas to the executive branch and fellow americans. I live in a world that is both policy and political. As thomas mentioned early on the political is typically thought for peace. That means the extent to which you can get involved nonpartisan basis with your members of congress, the states where you live, to talk about stable Development Goals, really makes a difference. Most of us spend an amazing amount of time going from meeting to meeting to meeting, but when someone talks to us about a given issue, we dont know. You cant possibly know everything ahead of time. Theres a wonderful woman was about four foot 11, 4 foot 10, and endow fisher who lives in alexandria virginia. Senior she has another thing that i have to go do. She usually has a piece of paper, i will have to go back and fill figure out why this is wrong or that is run. Im educated because of it. A second piece of that, my staff and i will probably take 1220 meetings a day in the office. So i am learning lots and lots know things that i didnt about. People that have disease seven other factors. So what can be gained by all these things. Here called on those members of congress one by one to talk about the sustainable Sustainable Development goals, they would be a lot smarter. If you had a poll right now, and honest poll and ask for many of you have heard of the Sustainable Development goals , i dod to answer honestly not want to guess how many it would be but it would be a small number. But year from now if everyone here has visited the whole crew, it could be a high percentage. Thats my wife calling. [laughter] i recognize the ring. [laughter] if she is watching this, maybe we will take the first question from your wife. [laughter] the floor is open. This is a microphone. You make the hard decisions. Please stand up and introduce yourself. Work for partnership between the publicprivate civil sectors that tackle the problems we face today. Thank you for you and your you,ce a question to how can we in the private sector work with members of congress in the house and senate to change the narrative around Climate Change and physical Development Goals from one of International Compliance to one more of job creation and economic opportunity, both in terms of Sustainable Energy and infrastructure, and poverty combatants . Your question holds the say,r to you look and why im speculating. A reasonable position wisely so much opposition, or skepticism, but Climate Change in the United States question mark most of it is driven by economics. Theres a lot more skepticism in coalfields them there is here. Theres a lot more skepticism in wyoming with a big pattern of coal or in louisiana were there drawing all the stuff out of the oil and gulf. They look and say well, if Climate Change is real, im unemployed. This community is devastated. To the sense that we can rebuild an economic pace around adaption to Climate Change, we can make it a lot easier for people to move away from an incorrect reading of the science , but a correct reading would devastate them. Some he said the other day you cant come at a climate skeptics who have everything at stake, you cant just blow them off and say, believe in science. They are scared. Thank you very much. Im sure you know very well this process. 100,000, it would be a protest. Is, thent about america skin formation and education at a local level. Launch last we launched last week with the chinese. To help local areas the silk road over 70 countries. When i started cultural heritage, i did not find confidence anywhere. The knowledge is here. It is here in america. Innovation is in america. Its up to you. Go to your local people. They will challenge you. You will see the resources in america beat out the federal government. Still, americas best. Thank you. Thank you very much for your perspective. Talk about switzerland having an initiative referendum. Of the interesting factoids is that one of the half of referendums is held in switzerland. A former chair of United Nations a liked what you said george about the accuracy capacity of citizens in the u. S. I started my work on global issues back in 1980, president ial commission on world hunger. I have to say, your role as a citizen is so much more powerful. I wanted to hear that question the assertion that Climate Change is the greatest National Security threat and development, that this person Council Organizations with about 100 nonprofit groups working together, was that each completed on different campaigns, different issues. To the degree that they compete with if there is a nuclear event, Climate Change is not going to be involved. If there is a pandemic, Climate Change is not going to be the problem. Is a would like to do genius from my perspective for sustainable goals is a comprehensive approach that it takes to address all the various issues. Unless we do it and a comprehensive way in the context of our own National Security, you will fail as we did with the millennium Development Goals, and world hunger roles back in 1980. To challenge that perspective, that we do need to have a conference of approach particularly in even right. Protecting human life is a justice issue. Thats really the. We do that, all the separate issues are going to fail. Think you much. Very valuable perspective. I came to politics worried about the threat of nuclear war, the fact that there is 10,000 warheads aimed at the soviet union, vice a versa, now reduced by a factor of 85 . There still very real. A couple of Nuclear Weapons changes your perspective on everything. Thank you, congressman. I miss christopher benewah are, i miss after. I have too many jumps to be sitting here. My mom wants to thank you. Thank her for me. My question this morning, nikki haley on the today show was supporting drumss chant stanza pulling out of the 21 agreement. She said just because we are pulling out of the agreement, we that doesnt mean we dont believe in Climate Change. Sustainablyevelop in what goes with the agreements , and leaving the rest of the tontrys while we were that the rest of the countries, located in americas interest in mind . And life is and now. Yes as we said, we can continue to move forward but we will have to do it is a Global Leadership role. Person, i think the metric about whether we stay this, whetherike its good for businesses not the right metric to be using. As a lot of other ways businesses survive favorite business book ends here its different every year the matter what business you are in. I havent even read it. The answer is, yes. Im glad Ambassador Haley says this is real and we have to it out. More people in the Trump Administration who have the perspective that this is something we have to deal with gives me greater hope, rather than administrator pruitt, where the president. People on the hoax side. My name is liam i am a studes and and in and turner and i want to ask what roles can for ans like environmentally responsible Development Domestic and abroad geared i feel like people dismiss our voices because of our youth. I think you guys are doing a great job already. Before wee talking broke about how the millennials and younger are so much more understanding and committed to these issues that as you grow older and take over, and we move off to pastor, where he are went to be in a much better position. I dont have statistical evidence to back it up, i know very few people under the age of 30 that dont believe that Climate Change israel. They feel like Something Like that is a personal threat to them and their future. Whos folks more like my age Climate Change wasnt even a lexicon for the first 75 of our life are a lot more skeptical. As people here mentioned, your does change a lot of things. Whether you are working at a nonprofit or just knocking on doors, and anything in between, all of that makes a difference. Quote charles hammer, but he has written essays recently saying despite our president s erratic leadership, there are a lot of other institutions in our society that are pushing back trying to keep the car on the road. I think we have a few livestream questions from twitter. What is twitter . [laughter] good afternoon. I work with International Economic development council. Here is a question that we got on twitter not too long ago about president ial leadership, how can congress, Civil Society, and so forth advance a agenda in the u. S. . Have the same question as a lot of different ways. In congress it is a little difficult rate now in the sense that the republicans controlled the house, the senate, and the white house. In the interim, i think we should look to Republican Leaders in the house and senate, ed royce, the republican chair of the Foreign Service relations theany, Lindsey Graham on senate side, and asked them to be champions. We can certainly introduce a lot of resolutions and even build on the democratic side, but without Republican Leadership, they will just disappear. They are five minute comments and gone. At Civil Society we talked about the many things you can do. I forget what the number of theronmental ngos in country are, but it is in the tens of thousands alone that can lift us up. Educating the members of congress to what the sustainable allotment goals are, is a great first step. If not the members, at least they staff, because educate the members. Here is one from one of our online viewers, it says, it seems that goal 17 is imperative for governments to meet goal 13. I see incredible partnerships forming that address refugee needs, energy needs, and impacts Climate Change. If the Paris Agreement can spur action among parties as the u. N. Refugee agency, ikea foundation, and jordanian government to build a solar array to power a refugee camp, why can what can our u. S. Legislators do now to continue to lead the world in humanitarian response, all of this despite trumps decision to leave the Paris Agreement . [laughter] a good piece of that would come from the executive branch. Useid,. Yet the people looking for those partnerships. The simplest thing we could do at the federal level would be raise our commitment to the money we invest in International Development. We are theieve largest commitment in the world, but as mx as a percentage of our gdp, we are still in the back. Believe 2 was the gold for International Development, or. 2 . 7,. 7, yeah. Switzerland, liechtenstein were always looking at the. 7. I dont know what u. S. Is, but i believe it is not anywhere near. 7. That would be a simple step forward. The interesting thing is the president s skinny budget, none of that is becoming real. The appropriators, democrats and republicans, are much more protective of a strong federal government the in the president s skinny budget. In fact, the budget he set down that we are in right now, cut nih by x billion dollars and the appropriators bumped it up i 6 billion instead. When you to take that point to close to. 7. And that would give us resources for the things the twitter questioner have asked about. Thank you. I think we have time for a few more questions. Hi, i am a Carbon Neutrality fellow at the university of i have a localso advocate lens and this is not intended to be antiparis at all, but has he notion been considered that because the contributions to paris are voluntary that us pulling out and causing international and a wide range of fears be considered a positive for overall clement action . Maybe. There are some interesting studies that say that more americans learned about paris by pulling out. So, perhaps, there is something to be gained by that. More education is always a better. I didnt know there were Carbon Neutrality fellows. That is a great title. I am a retired service officer, is Congress Going to permit total destruction of the department of the state and Foreign Service . I no, but there is a lot that Congress Wont be able to do. Trumpy the recommendations of the skinny budgets for the cutbacks in the budget,partment usaid they will be cut somewhat, but maybe not much or not at all. One of the things that i perceived is the appropriators their of both parties are intensely effective and committed to programs they have been working with for decades. And believe in them and know about the programs in great depth. What we cannot change is what secretary of state tillerson is doing little by little by not filling positions, by essentially just through attrition i met with one of my econ officers last night who has just come back from overseas, and he said, little by little what you are finding embassy by embassy is through attrition they are hallowing them out. We objected strongly to the notion last week that they would take the commitment to justice out of the state department commission. Which goes back to the human rights is the center of everything. Jimmy carter did some good and some bad, but i think of the top was the commitment of the u. S. To lead on human rights. It would be a terrible thing to retreat on that. It will be bad because we dont have leadership committed to diplomacy as with soft power, hard power, smart power, as a centerpiece of american leadership, but the budget implications wont be as bad as the skinny budget. Thank you very much. From some of your constituents. [laughter] i am very pleased to see this young man here, although he is from an elite high school, the thing is that una has had a great program, a model u. N. Trying tod has been get children involved in understanding what the u. N. Does. But mainly it is in elite high schools and so most of the children because i belong to a sorority that works with una. The innercityto schools, to go to schools where children were not aware and having worked with those people are long time, children know practically nothing about the United Nations. And so, i think one of the places we have to begin is when kids are young to try to these college kids are working on the subjects, but i talked to people in my church that say, oh, the u. N. Is just talk. And they really and these are people you would think would be much more involved. But i think we have to do a Big Education program here in the United States and maybe we can presentt there are secretary of education, im sure, but we should do a great job of trying to educate the children who are young about what the United Nations does. That is a very good point. And that is the United Nations and Civics Education in general, yeah. The highfense of school, it is a public high school. It is an elite public high school, but school. To langley high you talked a lot about in your speech about how the cycle administration we would enact climate in administration, but then in the next what do you think is the best way as a congressman to end the cycle and the next permanent legislation against clever change . Well, so, the shortterm perspective is for democrats to take back the house and senate in 2018. And elect a democratic president in 2020. Bader ginsburg said the symbol of america shouldnt be the eagle, it should be the pendulum, because we swing back and forth. The general men talked about his time in geneva, i learned many things in my watch oh years in switzerland, but the one i treasured most was the commitment to shared power. The swiss, they have no head of state. The only country in the world that doesnt have a head of state, they have a seven person counsel. Now it is down to four, i think, and everything is done by consensus. Square toersonally this anecdote, but i heard when paul ryan was made speaker, neither he nor nancy pelosi had ever had a oneonone conversation in all of the years they served together. What you have is the absence of shared power, here. Im in charge, therefore, straight partyline vote. That is one of the problems with the Affordable Care act, which i am committed to, but not a single republican voted for it. If you vote on a partyline basis, everything will swing back and forth here at anything you can do culturally toward the idea of shared power, we will be better off. Mention before trying to get away from the reality plurality voting, if you really runninglook at for senators and the general elections in trying to get people interested in working together across party lines. Thank you. I live part of the time in your district, and the other half and colorado, but i want to ask you about coal. I will ask about a balancing act, because one goal is our budget am having a balanced budget, the other goal is a sustainable developing goal, how do you balance the two of those and what do you see . Asking ayou for question about budget, because we never talk about that up here. Interestingly, a lot of the Tea Party Folks elected in 2010, the two centerpieces of their argument was they hated obamacare and they were worried about the size of republic debt. Which is something to worry about, and yet, the budget the House Republicans presented i forget how many trillion it added to the debt in the next 10 years. And the overhead budget wasnt any better, the same number was added. The challenge there are entitlements. It is not what we spend on development aid. 70 isget as a whole, medicare, medicaid, social security, and interest on the debt. It will be 70 all of our lifetime. 30 , happens defense, and the other half is everything else. The state department, epa, education, energy, on and on. It is incredibly difficult to balance the budget out of that 15 . Nothing makes enough difference its a drop in the bucket. You have to get your arms around the entitled mea entitlement issue. If we didnt it would be a lot easier to do. Getting your arms around entitlements, that is a different question. It is easier to have the ideas buteople come forward, everybody was afraid to vote for it, because of the shortterm clinical implications at the next election. Nucleus rubio, i am from nicholas rubio, and talking about climate action, energy is usually the main thing, but waste is also becoming an increasing issue here to i am concerned about plastic and how much lasted we currently use. Theto effectively tackle threats of Climate Change, we would also need to change our lifestyle. For example, like plastic, target Something Like that, or fuel efficiency, for example . First look at the california example. Believe it is california that bags. Nned plastic looking where you can do it would be the state laws or local regulations. There are ways to move efficiency forward, and we should do it. One of my favorite examples was our Nobel Prize Winning secretary of energy phd physicist. He made a speech or he talked about desktop modems and how they all threw off heat. Ont remember the exact the amperage or whatever, but he said it was a equivalent of one year to move from i can make up the numbers, but the relative scale is the same. From 10 amps to one amp was enough to power an automobile fleet for one year in the United States. Over the years you have seen a modems,nge in desktop even the disappearance of them as part of that. Anywhere we can look for big and small savings, we should. The interesting piece that Lindsey Graham read a few years ago in the fight over carbon tax said, where we are today with the political boats not there to get political votes not there to get carbon pricing, it may be legal efficient to spend on Energy Efficiency that you can get a huge net savings and carbon there, too. Constituent in old town, alexandria. I serve on the Sustainable Development committee and in organizing todays event. I am a fellow with the department of energy, so i see a lot of the great work that is going on that oftentimes people dont see. I wonder if you have anything that you are particularly proud on. That congress has acted anything you are particularly proud of. First of all, for everybody that lives in the district, please vote for me. Tip oneills first rule of politics, you know the story when he first ran for councilman and then came home and the lady next door was rushing her porch and he thanked her for voting for him, and she said she didnt vote for him, because he never asked for a vote. Jordan, please. One of the things we should be proud of is while i mentioned that my Science Space Technology committee is not bipartisan, the Foreign Affairs committee may house is a very bipartisan. They work well together, tend to get a lot of pieces of legislation out of it that are not partisan. I think they are committed to development, that is a good thing. Thatvery proud of the fact not only did we pass the Affordable Care act, but so far we have defended it. Pregnancies are at an alltime low, the number of origins is at an alltime low since roe v. Wade. You have to look at it piece by piece and there is an enormous way different philosophies between the congressman how you poverty, but even paul ryan is interested in taking the 40 of American Children on medicaid and finding ways to lift them out of poverty. Strategies are different, tax rates are different, but the commitment is real. Let me use your question as an opportunity to lobby you and everybody here. It takes up on the issue of National Security which you have raised. And i think the Development Community is coming behind you that one of the greatest threats and challenges to Global Development is state fragility. Years, 50 ofew the poverty in the world is going to be in agile in fragile states. They can protect their citizens, they cant deliver services, there is little clinical legitimacy. And the development and Foreign Policy community have not come up with effective strategies for how you help countries get out of fragility. And we have been approaching this as a development issue. We are finally learning and paying attention. An issuelinical issue, of safety and security. There is legislation being drafted now by a coalition of ngos working with members of the house to develop to require the administration to develop a policy, im our current approach. I would say this is probably the most important thing that the congress does for seg 16. I will make sure they bring it to your attention and you can talk to your colleagues. How is that . That would be great. I am not allowed to end this session and thank you, some of you else will do it, but this has been a real pleasure for me. Thank you for your strong commitment to Climate Change and u. S. Leadership in the world. Thank you very much. [applause] thank you once again to mr. George ingram and representative i hope our members in the room and those online enjoyed the conversation. I would like to take a time to make a few quick thank you. First to our titleist program assistance, for continuing the support every step of the way. Also, to our event lead for conceptualizing and leading this event to cspan and this media media fordia nexis providing coverage. Also to my fellow Committee Members and also a special thank chris mr. Brett blair and hopkins from the youth collaboration on Foreign Affairs. They are a coalition focused on leading discussions on Foreign Affairs and also one of our new partners in helping to promote. N would like to give them a opportunity to promote his organization, brett . [applause] good evening. Congressman beyer, mr. Ingram, theother guest, i am director of the youth collaboration of Foreign Affairs. I am joint i several team members joined by several team members. I would also like to give a special thanks to patrick for allowing us to speak. Our collaboration is a revolutionary movement. 60 strong and growing, young people dont have a say in the Foreign Policy process. Us, becaused to were the ones inheriting the world as it is left to us. As tomorrows leaders we hope our generation can play a crucial role in shaping todays policy. We aspire to petition and grasp attrition of policymakers and the world. Thank you for your time. [applause] thank you, brett. In closing, i just have a few thoughts to relate to you, i would like to reinforce the words of keeping to the mitment of Climate Change by collecting to withdraw from the paris accord, we run the risk of losing our vital seat at the table and allowing other yers to set the furthermore, the environmental challenges we face today do not take into account our National Borders as he highlighted the various examples across the United States and the world. Resolving these challenges will require action from each of you here today, online, and everyone else on the planet. Today, i challenge you to make the commitment i getting involved with the United Nations association of the night states of america. Joining ourder chapter here in washington, d. C. To become more involved in our common interest to champion for affordable, clean and are surely clean energy, clean water, sanitation, and so much more. As a chair i am humbled to lead a dynamic and passionate group of students and people from all walks of life who are dedicated to making a positive difference here in our local communities and beyond. We strive to actively assist and increase public knowledge, advocacy, and community engagement. Humaner is composed rights, international law, pease, security, and Sustainable Development goals to name a few. Today, i invite you to join our to solve theserk issues. They will be resolved overnight, but with your help i am ever and confident that we can will fight Climate Change with her without the United Statess participation in the paris climate accord. [applause] we would like to present certificates of appreciation, paul and i would, too congressman buyer and george ingram. [applause] thank you very much. Thank you. President trump today threatened to unleash fire and fury to north korea if it ,dangers the United States perhaps growing to the most serious foreignpolicy threat yet. He made the comment during everything in new jersey. Here is what the president said. Pres. Trump north korea best not make any more threat to the United States. They will be met with fire and. Fury like the world has never seen. He has been very threatening, and as inormal state, said, they will be met with ury, and frankly power, the likes of which this world has never seen before. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Tocongressional reaction President Trump included representative ro khanna who tweeted also, this is not the time to push north korea to make more threats and continue to test its missiles, instead, the u. S. Must listen to senior statesman to engage in bilateral diplomacy. Cspan, where history unfolds daily. In 1979, cspan was created as a Public Service of by americas cabletelevision companies and is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. Join us tonight when author david correlates, former Intelligence Officer welcome now and others discuss the situation in the east and the policy of the bush and obama Trump Administrations here this was part of a competent in pasadena, california. We will have the entire program for you starting at 8 00 p. M. Eastern, but here is a preview. They have killed more everythingthousands, we saw on television was blown. P i and iranian ied the middle of the negotiations but chanted death to america will and death to israel. The idea that obama was dealing with middle east policy, and in fact they were isolated and there were sanctions. Quid pro quo [indiscernible] that is the situation. You can see all of that program on middle east policy at 8 00 p. M. Eastern here on cspan. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] now, a News Conference calling on the u. S. To remove military aircraft from syrian airspace. Spacers speakers from a argue that the u. S. Military role in syria was illegal and immoral and raised globaled that the policing and intervention in syria was an unwinnable military strategy. From earlier today, this is an hour