Senator Klobuchar highlighted action taken after 1986 work of Republican Senator Durenberger to address climate change 

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar took to the Senate floor to call for action on climate change. Senators highlighted action taken by their predecessors in several states like Rhode Island, Maine, and Minnesota, to address climate change, specifically in 1986 when a bipartisan group of senators came together to voice concerns about the threat of climate change, including Republican Senator Dave Durenberger from Minnesota.

“We know it is long past time for bipartisan action on climate change. As the Senator from Rhode Island explained, back in 1986 a bipartisan group of senators came together to voice their concerns about the future of our world. This forward-thinking group of our predecessors who were from the same states as my colleagues who are here today, held three days of hearings on climate change…

Minnesota Senator David Durenberger was among that group of Senators,” said Klobuchar.

“I called Senator Durenberger this week to get some sense of where he was on climate change years later. And he reported to us that in his words, he wanted to ‘remind Americans that there was a time in our very recent history when the United States Senate made it its responsibility to define and address some of the critical national and international policy issues that threaten the security of our communities, our nation, and the world,’” Klobuchar continued. 

“The true tragedy was that the final paragraph of the letter notes that any analysis should be undertaken without the delay, due to the likelihood that legislation will be seriously considered by the committee early in the next Congress. Well, the truth of the matter is that we are still waiting for that legislation to be seriously considered.

“The bipartisan call in that 1986 letter came in the 99^th Congress and we are now beginning the 116^th.  And just as troubling, we have lost some of the bipartisan spirit that guided David Durenberger and those 1986 led lawmakers. Our inaction has outlasted even the Office of Technology itself.   

I ask my colleagues in the spirit of bipartisanship from back in 1986, my colleague Senator Durenberger, who I hope is listening today, let us continue that spirit and let’s get some serious climate legislation to the floor of the U.S. Senate.”

Broadcast-quality video of Klobuchar’s remarks are available here.