“From super storm Sandy, to the extreme droughts last year in the Midwest, it’s clear that our climate is changing and changing quickly. This year, Earth’s atmosphere crossed a dangerous threshold – with carbon dioxide concentrations surpassing 400 parts per million for the first time in human history. Sea levels have risen nine inches since the 1920s, and that is nothing compared to sea level changes anticipated in the next century if we fail to curb carbon emissions.

“I applaud President Obama’s announcement yesterday of his “Climate Action Plan” to cut carbon emissions in America and establish us as world leaders on new clean energy technologies. It calls for intensifying efforts to combat carbon pollution and moving our economy toward more sustainable, renewable, clean energy. That’s why I introduced my amendment to restore full funding to the President’s budget request.

“Investing in clean energy research and development is critical to our own energy independence and creates high-tech jobs and innovative technologies that we can sell to the rest of the world. We can make these investments now or continue to spend untold billions to recover from intense weather disasters. Super storm Sandy alone cost the federal government $50 billion, and cost the nation $65 billion in lost business. In this light - $2.1 billion in clean energy investments is an economic bargain.”

The amendment failed along party lines, with a vote of 21-27.