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[applause] >> mr. president. >> come on over. [applause]

n progress. >> my guess is you as 100 people in the country what they think of me and they would not have a clue. until a couple weeks ago some of us would not have either. when we leave your today hopefully we will know and not just understand ourselves but be able to ask elaine to others -- explain to others.

i am told this may be the first ever congressional hearing on the topic of extreme event attribution. to understand as to why we are holding this here am i am hoping to ask a few questions. first of all, what is extreme event attribution anyway. and despite the amount, extreme attribution looks at how specific extreme weather events such as particularly waive or flood that was made worse by -- wave or flood was made worse by climate change. and then secondly -- why is this important? human cost exchange is increasing frequent weather events. and earlier in the american meteorological society there is a report with leading climate scientist and meteorologist with a report that details how climate change has driven

unprecedented heat waves, floods, and droughts. in recent years. and we know that continues to be the case. phoenix arizona experiences unprecedented 31 days temperatures at or above 110 degrees darren heitner as they did this summer. or when historic rain leads to flooding in vermont this year. many ask is climate change to vain -- to blame for this? the honest answer is yes it is. it is true we have always had heat waves or as long as i have been around, 76 years, but it is true that climate is making them more intense. the better question, i think, is to ask ourselves the question how much worse do climate change make the heatwave, how much more worse did it make the flood? the secunda question the extreme

event attribution scientist and including one of our witnesses we are hoping will answer. and this has caused human harm and sadly they are growing. many colleagues know that i represent the low-lying state in the nation delaware. we are already losing -- we have sea level rise. and we look to repair our homes, business, infrastructure and we -- are already paying for the cost of climate change. this is not just about delaware but about the 49 other states as well with the plan that we will share. with people around the world. we are grappling with the cost of climate change. today we will focus on how it is fueling extreme weather and how, may be more importantly, what we can do about it. in one sense climate change is