Congressman Ted Lieu (D-Los Angeles) was the keynote speaker at Generation Progress’s Climate Panel at the Make Progress National Summit of 2015 last week. His address, coinciding with a release of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s State of the Climate Report, calls for the United States Congress and the nation to combat climate change.

“NOAA’s State of the Climate Report confirmed that 2014 was the hottest year on record and that greenhouse gases have reached new record highs,” Lieu said. “This follows a series of alarming occurrences happening across the globe. Recently, atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide surpassed 400 parts per million for a whole month for the first time in at least 800,000 years.  California is facing one of its most severe droughts in history.

“It is urgent that Congress act now. We must reach a point in our political dialogue where it is no longer deemed acceptable to deny climate change. I urge House Republicans to stop their relentless legislative attacks on the environment and pass real solutions to climate change, such as my Climate Solutions Act. We hold the answers for saving our planet and reversing the current, devastating trends, and together we can succeed.”