Overview

This report was produced and issued by the minority staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (HSGAC). The executive summary states: The costs to taxpayers of climate change and its impacts on infrastructure and communities throughout the United States are potentially devastating. Extreme weather events are increasing in frequency and severity. Failing to address the risks, both human and financial, created by our changing climate threatens to do great harm to our economy and our country in the future. In the last fourteen years, catastrophic hurricanes, flooding, wildfires, and related extreme events have cost the federal government and American taxpayers half a trillion dollars in disaster assistance alone. The most recent National Climate Assessment warns that the increasing intensity of these events will continue to cause significant strain for the country's aging infrastructure. However, unlike prior administrations, this Administration has offered little or no guidance on addressing these and other threats associated with climate change. Worse, the Trump Administration has taken steps to eliminate research and funding necessary to alleviate the costs of climate change.This compilation includes a reproduction of the 2019 Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community.Executive Summary * Findings of Fact and Recommendations * I. The Rising Financial Costs of Extreme Weather * A. Climate Change and Extreme Weather Events * B. Financial Costs * C. Inequitable Costs * D. National Security Impacts * E. Impacts in Michigan * II. Adapting Infrastructure In The United States To Save Taxpayer Dollars * A. Adaptation Savings * B. Benefit-Cost Ratio * III. Trump Administration Inaction On Addressing Climate Change Costs * A. Deprioritizing Adaptation * 1. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration * 2. Environmental Protection Agency Global Change Research Office * 3. NASA Earth Science Research Program * 4. Department of the Interior Climate Adaptation Science Center * 5. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management Climate Change Program * 6. Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy * 7. Federal Emergency Management Agency Flood Hazard Mapping Program * 8. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration * 9. Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block Grant Program * B. Limiting Availability of Information * 10. Comparison of Administration Budget Requests * Conclusion

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