Climate threat demands spending surge despite inflation, supply chain woes: Sen. Tom Carper

"Our planet is on fire," claims the Delaware Democratic lawmaker. "Delaware is the lowest lying state in America. Unfortunately our state is sinking."

By Nicholas Ballasy

Published: October 21, 2021 4:02pm

Updated: October 24, 2021 10:44pm

Delaware Democratic Sen. Tom Carper told Just the News the threat of catastrophic climate change is the reason Democrats have to pass a multitrillion filibuster-proof spending bill despite rising inflation and a supply chain crisis that's causing delays in production and delivery of products.

"Our planet is on fire," Carper said after a news conference on climate action being included in the Democratic spending bill currently being negotiated. "Delaware is the lowest lying state in America. Unfortunately, our state is sinking. The seas around us are rising."

Carper recalled a Louisiana lawmaker telling him that Louisiana loses a piece of land the size of a football field "to the sea" every minute.

"We don't have the liberty just to say, well, we'll get to this some other time," he said. "This is here, and now the question is, can we go after climate change in meaningful ways and create jobs? And the answer is absolutely yes. We've got to do both."

Carper referenced his service in the Navy and said no one has died in nuclear-powered ships in the Navy in the last 60 years.

"It's not renewable, but it's carbon free, it's like 50% of our carbon-free electricity, and I think we need to build on that going forward," he said. "So there's a lot of tools in the toolbox."

As part of the reconciliation bill, President Biden has proposed more than $170 billion in electric vehicle initiatives in addition to the creation of a Civilian Climate Corps of more than 250,000 young people.

The bill also calls for $213 billion to "build, preserve, and retrofit more than 2 million homes and commercial buildings; modernize our nation' schools, community colleges, and early learning facilities; and upgrade veterans' hospitals and federal buildings."

Republicans have criticized the Democrats' use of the budget reconciliation process to pass Biden's agenda. Democrats used the process this year for Biden's $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act.