Senate Budget Committee Hearing: Fiscal Impacts of Climate Change on Infrastructure
January 1, 2023
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The Frame
This hearing establishes the legislative record for how climate-related infrastructure damage may impact future federal spending, disaster relief allocations, and national economic policy.
Potentially affected actors named in the source documents. Mention is not a position.
Federal Government
The federal budget faces potential fiscal impacts from climate-related infrastructure damage and disaster relief requirements.
Infrastructure Operators
Entities managing power grids, water systems, and transportation networks face operational and financial challenges due to extreme weather.
Last recorded activity January 1, 2023.
Next step not available in the current record.
Summary
Key Facts
- The hearing was the tenth in a series focused on the economic dangers of climate change for the federal budget.
- The hearing took place on July 26, 2023, in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.
- The scope of infrastructure discussed includes drinking water, sewage systems, roads, bridges, railways, irrigation, flood levees, waterways, power plants, dams, and transmission lines.
- Chairman Whitehouse cited recent climate-related events including record heat in Phoenix, Canadian wildfires, flooding in Vermont, New York, and Pennsylvania, and drought in the Midwest.
- The hearing included testimony from five witnesses: Governor John Bel Edwards, Dr. Susan F. Tierney, Dr. Jesse M. Keenan, Mrs. Linda Apsey, and Mr. Alexander Herrgott.
- The committee received written statements and responses to post-hearing questions from all five witnesses, which are included in the appendix.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the purpose of this hearing?
Who testified at the hearing?
Why It Matters
This hearing establishes the legislative record for how climate-related infrastructure damage may impact future federal spending, disaster relief allocations, and national economic policy.
News Coverage
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Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Focus on Fiscal Risk
The committee is framing climate change specifically as a budgetary and fiscal risk rather than purely an environmental issue.
Connected Entities
Sources
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Analysis Score
0–100- Significance65How much this matters to a regular citizen
- Controversy40Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment10Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz20Current news / social attention level
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