Remarks by the Vice President in a Briefing on Climate Resilience in Miami, Florida

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Doctor. Well, I want to thank the leaders who are here: FEMA; DHS -- of course, Mr. Secretary; NOAA; and the National Hurricane Center. You all are doing extraordinary work, such important work. You've dedicated your lives to this work, and our nation needs your leadership right now.

You -- all you have to do is turn on the evening news to catch it streaming or live, and one can see how immediate, how current, and how urgent the issue is of addressing the extreme weather that we have been experiencing around the country and the world, frankly, and what we must do as leaders to focus on prevention and to react swiftly, as appropriate and necessary, with a priority of saving human life but also understanding how communities suffer in many ways because of these extreme weather events.

So I thank you all for the work that you do.

I do believe that elected leaders have a duty to protect our communities. And the President and I believe that includes before, during, and after disaster strikes when it comes to extreme weather, as well as other issues. And the climate crisis has, of course, made that duty more important than ever before.

When we think of the extreme weather that is impacting our country right now, we are looking at everything from floods to drought to wildfire, and then, of course, there are hurricanes and the extreme heat. Many of these are occurring at the exact same time. One need only look at a map of the United States to see the hotspots around our nation and how, as a result of these extreme events, people are suffering. People have died -- children.

We are seeing it in terms of families that are displaced; economies that are, without any question, being harmed -- and livelihoods -- with what I fear will be generational impact. So this is, of course, a serious issue.

In 2021 alone, if one wants to measure the urgency but also what we are seeing in terms of the greater frequency of the issue and therefore the increased urgency -- in 2021, we counted 20 climate disasters that each caused over $1 billion in damage, not to mention the impact to life, compared, in the 1990s, to six such disasters a year. So the frequency has accelerated in a relatively short period of time.

I've seen firsthand, of course, as many of you have, the terrible destruction that is a result of these extreme weather conditions. I have visited Puerto Rico right after Hurricane Maria. And of course, in my home state of California, I have been at the site of wildfires while embers were still burning.

And for all of those reasons, I think we know urgent action is needed and all leaders must lead. The science is clear: Extreme weather will only get worse, and the climate crisis will only accelerate.

Today we meet to discuss the threats that are on the horizon and how we can protect the people of our nation during extreme weather.

Later today, I will announce with the Secretary and with the administrators new investments by our administration to help communities build resilience in the face of climate disasters.

But I'll close with this: We have, within our ability,

the power to act in a way that recognizes the urgency of this moment and also our ability to do something about it that is both about addressing the issue before it happens, because a lot of it now is quite predictable, and what we must do immediately after in a swift and smart way to mitigate the harm and the damage to our communities.

So with that, I thank you all again. I'm looking forward to our briefing. And again, I thank you on behalf of our entire nation for the work you do every day. Thank you.