{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/speeches/time-to-wake-up-the-anniversary-of-hurricane-sandy", "Time to Wake Up: The Anniversary of Hurricane Sandy", "2013-10-29", "2013", "2013-10", "Democrat", "House", "RI", "Sheldon Whitehouse", "W000802", "www.whitehouse.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "10.29.13\n\t\t\t Time to Wake Up: The Anniversary of Hurricane Sandy \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tMr. President, this is my forty-eighth trip to the floor to remind Congress it is time to wake up to the threat of climate change. \u00a0\r\nI'm joined here by Senators Blumenthal and Schumer, because one year ago today, Hurricane Sandy struck our states with frightening force.\u00a0 Now, a year later, communities across the Northeast have dug out and are rebuilding, but Sandy left a permanent mark on our coasts and on our consciousness.\r\nTo be sure, we cannot say that this devastating storm was specifically caused by climate change.\u00a0 However, Sandy showed the many ways we are vulnerable to the undeniable effects of climate change, like rising sea levels and warming oceans\u2014effects that can in turn load the dice for more damaging storms. \u00a0\r\nAs evening fell on October 29, 2012, a storm surge from the largest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded swept against Rhode Island\u2019s shores, about five feet above mean sea level.\u00a0 A few hours later, waters peaked around New York City, about nine feet above mean sea level.\u00a0 A harrowing night followed for victims of Hurricane Sandy\u2014a night that took more than 150 lives and caused $65 billion in physical damage and economic loss. \u00a0\r\nHurricane Sandy\u2014or Superstorm Sandy as many remember it\u2014hit twenty-four states with direct effects.\u00a0 Flood waters invaded homes and swept out roads.\u00a0 High winds knocked out power to eight-and-a-half million homes and businesses, cutting a swath of darkness that could be seen from space.\u00a0 An entire New York neighborhood was gutted by fires that emergency personnel could not reach through the storm.\r\nSandy flooded nearly the entire coastline, with beaches and dunes driven down by the waves and wind. Displaced sand and stone covered roads, like here on Atlantic Avenue in Misqaumicut, Rhode Island.\r\nHouses were swept off their foundations in Rhode Island's southern-coast communities like Matunuck, shown in this photo.\u00a0 Here we see Governor Lincoln Chafee, a former member of this body, surveying the damage to these homes.\u00a0 President Obama granted Governor Chafee\u2019s request for a federal disaster declaration covering four of Rhode Island's five counties.\u00a0 More than 130,000 Rhode Islanders lost power. Eight cities and towns implemented evacuation actions.\u00a0 Nearly a third of all Rhode Islanders were directly affected, one way or another, and in a close-knit state like ours nearly everyone was touched by Sandy. \u00a0\r\nRhode Islanders are resilient, and we are recovering.\u00a0 Over $30 million has been paid out to Rhode Islanders for more than 1000 federal Flood Insurance claims.\u00a0 FEMA has approved more than 260 projects for reimbursement.\u00a0 Over $12 million has been put to repairing our state\u2019s parks, wildlife refuges and historic sites. Individuals and families received more than $423,000 in grants to meet their immediate basic needs for housing and other essential disaster-related expenses. \u00a0\r\nThe federal government will always play a central role for communities like ours picking up after a disaster like Sandy.\u00a0 So it would make sense for the federal government to learn from these events and be smart as we plan for future risks.\r\nThe Government Accountability Office recently reported on the risks to U.S. infrastructure posed by climate change.\u00a0 Roads, bridges, and water systems are designed to operate for fifty to 100 years.\u00a0 Well, fifty to 100 years from now, our climate and our coastline will be very different.\u00a0 Sandy threw at Rhode Island's shores Atlantic seas that had risen almost ten inches since the 1930s, against a shoreline that had already retreated more than 100 feet in some locations. \u00a0\r\nAs climate change progresses, more and more infrastructure will be exposed to more and more risk. \u00a0  Earlier this year, GAO added to its High Risk List the United States\u2019 financial exposure to climate change.\u00a0 GAO\u2014our congressional watchdog\u2014now warns that it is fiscally irresponsible to ignore the signs of climate change.\r\nThe President's Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, and his Climate Action Plan, both call for adaptation to this risk from climate change, particularly for better coastal resiliency and preparedness. \u00a0\r\nHere is an example of doing it right. When Hurricane Katrina hit the I-10 Twin Span Bridge that crosses Lake Pontchartrain near New Orleans, it twisted and toppled the bridge\u2019s 255-ton concrete bridge spans, off their piers and into the lake.\u00a0 The bridge was rebuilt, using Federal Highway Administration funding, but they built it stronger, they built it better engineered, and in some sections they built it more than twenty feet higher. \u00a0\r\nIt makes sense to make sure that our agencies repair American infrastructure to the commonsense standard that it's ready for future risks.\u00a0 Rebuilding to the specs that failed is not common sense.\u00a0 Being deliberately stupid in order to deny climate change is a losing proposition. \u00a0\r\nWell, Congress can do something smart right now.\u00a0 We could pass the Water Resources and Development Act with the resiliency and restoration provisions that were in the Senate-passed bipartisan bill. \u00a0  Congress could support the President\u2019s Climate Action Plan, using our wise Earth's natural protections for our coastal infrastructure.\u00a0 \u00a0\r\nOf course, even robust climate adaptation won't let us off the hook in some places.\u00a0 New England can build levees and dams to hold the waters back.\u00a0 But the vast low areas of Southeastern Florida are porous limestone, and even if you built a giant dike, the water would just seep in through the underlying limestone. \u00a0\r\nA study last year found that three feet of sea-level rise, which is what we presently expect, will hit more than one-and-a-half-million Floridians and nearly 900,000 Florida homes, almost double the effect on any other state in the nation. \u00a0\r\nSo Florida should want to prevent as much climate change as possible, and that means cutting carbon pollution.\u00a0 Ultimately, for the open market to work, we need to include the full cost of carbon pollution in the price of fossil fuels.\u00a0 Anything less is a subsidy to polluters.\u00a0 What Florida should want, is for Congress to enact a carbon pollution fee to correct the market, and then return that fee to American families. \u00a0  Ultimately, inaction is irresponsible, and Americans get it.\u00a0 Eighty-two percent of Americans believe we should start preparing now for rising sea levels and severe storms from climate change. \u00a0\r\nAnd young Americans in particular see through the phony climate denial message.\u00a0 Get this: three-quarters of independent young voters -- and more than half of Republican young voters -- would describe climate deniers as, I quote, \u201cignorant,\u201d \u201cout of touch,\u201d or \u201ccrazy.\u201d Let me repeat that. The majority of Republican voters under 35 would describe climate deniers as \u201ccrazy, \u201cignorant\u201d, or \u201cout of touch.\u201d Continuing the climate denial strategy is not a winning proposition for our friends on the other side. Even their own young voters see through it.\r\nCongress should wake up to the alarms that are ringing in nature, and to the voices of the American people.\u00a0 One of the loudest alarm gongs was Hurricane Sandy. Voltaire said, \u201cMen argue, nature acts.\u201d\u00a0 Well, nature acted, driving epic winds and seas against our shores, and she will continue to act, if we continue to tip her careful balances with reckless carbon pollution, and shameless subsidies to the big polluters.\u00a0 We need to wake up as a Congress and take responsible action to protect our homes and communities.\u00a0 We need to remember Sandy, and learn her lessons.\r\nI yield the floor to my distinguished colleague from New York. \u00a0\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/speeches/time-to-wake-up-the-anniversary-of-hurricane-sandy"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6526337713003159, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}