Contributor

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) took to the Senate floor today to call for an end to the “blatant, coordinated effort by some elected officials to muzzle the scientific community.”
“Just last month, in the state of Florida,” Nelson said, “the Florida Legislature passed and the governor signed into law a bill that allows any resident of the state, regardless of whether or not they have a student in school, to challenge what is being taught in the public schools.”
“The seas have risen eight inches in South Florida – that is a fact,” Nelson continued. “But if there are some who object to that climate science, then, under this new law just signed by the governor, they are going to be able to object to that subject being taught in our public schools.”
“This is the most brazen attack on science that we’ve seen in a long time,” Nelson added. “And it is a blatant attempt to cover up the truth. Instead of accepting the fact that the seas are rising … they want to literally rip the subject right out of our children’s textbooks.”
“I’ve filed legislation to protect scientists’ right to speak publicly about their research, not to let them be muzzled, and to ensure that all federal agencies maintain their scientific integrity,” Nelson concluded. “I hope we can stop this nonsense of hiding the truth. Let’s stop this war on science. Let’s accept facts as they are, and then debate the issues, the policy. The American people deserve an open and honest government that works for them, not a government that distorts the truth to match its rhetoric.”
Following is a rush transcript of Nelson’s remarks and here’s a link to watch video of his speech: https://youtu.be/bTsA21MflT0.

US Sen. Bill Nelson
Remarks on the Senate Floor
July 17, 2017
Sen. Nelson: … this senator came here to talk about another thing that is equally disturbing because there is a blatant coordinated effort by some elected officials to muzzle the scientific community. And when you start muzzling scientists, you don’t come up with the facts, you don’t come up with the truth, and what is being presented as facts doesn’t really match the truth and certainly the rhetoric doesn’t match what’s happening.
For example, just last month in the state of Florida, the Florida Legislature passed and the governor signed into law a bill that allows any resident of the state, regardless of whether or not they have a student in school, can challenge what is being taught in the public schools.
So, if a single resident objects to a certain subject that students are being taught having to do with science — a subject such as what’s happening in the climate and the changes and the fact that the sun’s rays come in and reflect off the earth and go back, reflect out and radiate the heat back into space. But when you start putting in what are known as the greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide and methane up there, they suddenly act as a ceiling, a greenhouse gas ceiling having a greenhouse effect — trapping the heat, causing the earth to heat up.
Two-thirds of the earth is covered with water, the oceans, most of that heat is absorbed in the oceans. And what happens to water when it is heated? It expands. And so that is a fact.
Sea-level rise in South Florida is a fact. It’s a measurement over the last 40 years. The seas have risen eight inches in South Florida. That is a fact. But if there are some who object to that climate science, then, under this new law just signed by the governor, they are going to be able to object to that subject being taught in our public schools and a single hearing officer will determine — a single hearing officer – will determine — lord only knows who that officer is appointed by — that single person will determine under the new law if the objection is justified and they can force a local public school to remove the subject from its curriculum.
Does that sound a little bit strange? And does that sound a little bit scary?
It seems like this is the most brazen attack on science that we’ve seen in a long time and it is a blatant attempt to cover up the truth.
Instead of accepting the fact that the seas are rising and what is going to be a very real threat, and already is to a coastline like Florida, they want to literally rip the subject right out of our children’s textbooks while at the same time silencing the teachers and the scientists.
I don’t think we can sit back and allow our public schools to become political battlegrounds. And we shouldn’t allow politicians to silence our teachers and scientists just because they don’t happen to like that part of the science.
While this bill was just enacted in Florida, it may be one much the most egregious examples of hiding the truth, but unfortunately, I’m sad to report, it is not the only one.
In fact, in 2015, Florida’s governor went so far as to reportedly ban state officials from even using the term climate change in their reports. Doesn’t that sound like muzzling?
Yet, the effect of sea-level rise is still painfully evident in south Florida. What about the water washing over the curbs on Miami Beach at the seasonal high tide? What about the water that’s coming over the streets in the Las Olas section of Fort Lauderdale at the seasonal high tides?
In just a month, the new head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency fired several members of the Board of Scientific Counselors, the very people responsible for overseeing the agency science and research programs. These were scientists at the top of their fields working on behalf of the American people, and suddenly in one fell swoop, the new head of the EPA fired them all and wants to replace them with — you guessed it — industry representatives. Scientists from the very industries that EPA is supposed to monitor and oversee.
Now, if this is not what completes the picture of putting the fox in charge of the henhouse, I don’t know what is, and the henhouse is not just climate science but includes basic research in all fields, including health care, NIH by the way, thank goodness a head of NIH, a guy who broke the code on the human genome, Dr. Collins. It includes the fields of astronomy, how about NASA, and it includes the origin of the universe, quantum physics in multiple agencies.
This disturbing trend of hiding the truth if it doesn’t match their rhetoric is a trend that’s spreading across all levels of government. If information can’t be removed from the public domain all together, then guess what they try to do? Try to discredit.
So look, for example of what’s been done right now in an effort to pass this disastrous Republican health bill. Instead of, as I just made our comments preparatory to this science subject, instead of trying to work together on a bipartisan bill aimed at improving our nation’s health care system, some on the other side of the aisle have resorted to attacking who? Attacking the nonpartisan congressional budget office after it said the bill will take health care coverage away from tens of millions of people.
The nonpartisan CBO is just that. It’s nonpartisan. It’s responsible for eliminating the costs and effects of nearly — of estimating the cost and effects of nearly every bill that Congress considers. And yet, suddenly, when its conclusion in CBO don’t match the rhetoric coming from one side, they turn their attacks on the scientists and the mathematicians who release the findings.
Listen to this quote: “I have a lot of yes about our accuracy of the CBO,” one of our Republican colleagues said here in the senate. CBO’s time has, quote, “Come and gone,” end of quote, the White House budget director said earlier this year. Quote, “We disagree strenuously with this report,” HHS Secretary Price said. Quote, “The CBO’s reports coverage numbers defy logic.” Quote, “If you’re looking for the CBO for accuracy, you’re looking in the wrong place,” said the press secretary down at the White House. And if that’s not enough, just last week the White House itself released a video saying that the CBO score of the Republican health care bill is based on “faulty assumptions and bad math,” end of quote.
Mr. President, it’s kind of clear what’s going on. This administration’s war on science is not a myth. It is not fake news. If you want to know an administration’s true priorities, you need to look no further than their budget. If you look at the president’s most recent budget request, you’ll see dramatic cuts to some of our most important scientific agencies.
This senator has seen that in the jurisdiction of the commerce committee, in the NOAA programs, in the NASA programs. So the president’s budget calls for more than a 30% cut to EPA. It calls for the firing of nearly a quarter of its staff and its elimination of all funding for programs aimed at fighting climate change.
And climate change isn’t just about Florida or a coastal state problem. It’s a problem of the entire country. The extreme weather events caused by climate change affect us all. Droughts come more frequent, floods more severe, major storms, hurricanes, tornadoes become stronger and even more deadly.
And so the scientists at NOAA, the National Weather Service, NASA, and most of the other agencies, including our military who study climate change aren’t trying to create a mythical problem that doesn’t exist. They’re trying to solve real life problems that affect all of us and affect them in the carrying out of their duties. And they work at federal agencies across the country with one goal in mind: to make credible, valid data publicly available for researchers and academic institutions and businesses who use that information to better understand things.
I see the leader is here to speak. I will just conclude with a couple of thoughts.
These scientists know that we can’t just stick our heads in the sand. Science doesn’t work like that. Facts are facts. And the fact is that the earth is heating up, and there’s a reason for that that I explained.
And if we don’t do something about it, the communities that are already affected in my state are going to be communities all over the world.
These here are not alternative facts.
And yet, instead of helping these scientists do their work, some political leaders are using their positions to hide this information and to make it unavailable.
And we ought to be speaking out against it. And that’s what this senator is trying to do.
And so I’ve filed legislation to protect scientists’ right to speak publicly about their research, not to let them be muzzled, and to ensure that all federal agencies maintain their scientific integrity.
And I hope we can stop this nonsense of hiding the truth. Let’s stop this war on science. Let’s accept facts as they are and debate then the issues, the policy.
The American people deserve an open and honest government that works for them, not a government that distorts the truth to match its rhetoric.
And I thank the Senate for indulging me. I thank the leader for listening patiently.
And, Mr. President, I yield the floor.