IV 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 568 
Recognizing that climate change poses a growing threat to public health 
and necessitates coordinated action to mitigate its impacts and safeguard 
the health and well-being of all people in the United States. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 10, 2025 
Ms. BARRAGA´N (for herself, Mr. CARBAJAL, Ms. MATSUI, Mr. SCHNEIDER, 
Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE, Ms. NORTON, Ms. 
OCASIO-CORTEZ, Ms. STANSBURY, Mr. THANEDAR, Ms. TLAIB, and Mr. 
TORRES of New York) submitted the following resolution; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to 
the Committees on Natural Resources, and Education and Workforce, for 
a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned 
RESOLUTION 
Recognizing that climate change poses a growing threat to 
public health and necessitates coordinated action to miti-
gate its impacts and safeguard the health and well-being 
of all people in the United States. 
Whereas climate change is the most significant threat to 
human health in the 21st century, as affirmed by a broad 
scientific consensus, including more than 200 medical 
journals; 
Whereas climate change is driving illness, injury, displace-
ment, and death across the United States, including— 
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(1) by worsening respiratory and allergy-related ill-
nesses and contributing to an increase in cancer risks 
through climate change fueled-increases in air pollution, 
longer pollen seasons, and increased exposure to wildfire 
smoke, ground-level ozone, and fine particulate matter 
that threaten the health of over 150,000,000 people in 
the United States living in areas with unhealthy air; 
(2) by increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease, 
heart attacks, and strokes, often worsened by extreme 
heat waves; 
(3) by increasing direct and indirect behavioral and 
mental health complications, including pre-disaster anx-
iety, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, substance 
use disorder, domestic violence, and suicidality, linked to 
climate-driven disasters with children, pregnant individ-
uals, people living in high-risk zones, communities of 
color, and low-income communities bearing the brunt of 
long-term psychological and emotional harm; 
(4) by disproportionately increasing the rates of 
homelessness and displacement among infants and young 
children, who face the highest risk of homelessness from 
climate disasters when living in substandard housing or 
high-risk zones; 
(5) by increasing the prevalence of food-, insect-, 
and water-borne diseases, as climate change expands the 
range and seasonality of vectors, while flooding and 
warming accelerate microbial contamination of food and 
drinking water; 
(6) by increasing water-borne pathogens, which al-
ready cause over 7,000,000 illnesses, 118,000 hospitaliza-
tions, and 6,600 deaths annually in the United States, a 
burden that is expected to rise as climate-driven extreme 
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weather and warming destabilize water and sanitation 
systems; 
(7) by heightening the risk of pregnancy-related 
complications, including still birth and preterm birth, 
which studies show can increase by 1 to 2 percent for 
each additional day of extreme heat exposure and mount-
ing death and disability resulting from extreme weather 
events that continue to displace and endanger millions of 
people in the United States annually; and 
(8) by increasing the prevalence of extreme weather 
events, which cause death and injuries and displace and 
endanger millions of people in the United States annu-
ally; 
Whereas people with disabilities are 2 to 4 times more likely 
to die or be injured during climate-related disasters, in-
cluding heatwaves, hurricanes, and floods, due to evacu-
ation barriers, medical equipment failures, and lack of ac-
cessible emergency infrastructure; 
Whereas historically underserved communities, including 
post-industrial regions, rural areas, Tribal nations, low- 
income and working-class neighborhoods, communities of 
color, and people with disabilities and pre-existing 
comorbidities, face disproportionate health risks from cli-
mate hazards, such as extreme heat, severe storms, 
drought, and air and water pollution, often due to dec-
ades of systemic underinvestment and environmental in-
justice; 
Whereas workers, including those in agriculture, construction, 
delivery, manufacturing, and warehouse settings, face 
growing health and safety risks from climate change-re-
lated hazards, such as extreme heat, poor air quality, and 
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extreme weather, and require stronger protections, stand-
ards, and workplace rights to safeguard their well-being; 
Whereas climate change costs the United States economy bil-
lions of dollars a year through its wide-ranging harms, 
including property damage, lost labor productivity, and 
increased rates of climate-related illness and mental 
health issues that strain the health care system of the 
United States; 
Whereas, in 2024 alone, the United States experienced 27 
separate 
billion-dollar 
climate 
disasters, 
each 
compounding both financial and public health burdens on 
the people of the United States; 
Whereas resilient health care organizations that are equipped 
to remain operational during disasters are essential to 
their communities’ health, safety, recovery, and well- 
being; 
Whereas the health care sector is responsible for approxi-
mately 8.5 percent of carbon emissions in the United 
States, exacerbating the climate crisis and health-related 
emergencies; 
Whereas many emergency preparedness investments, such as 
improving energy efficiency, upgrading infrastructure, 
and installing onsite renewable energy and battery stor-
age systems, bring health and sustainability benefits and 
yield significant operational savings for health care orga-
nizations; 
Whereas health care organizations, providers, and frontline 
health workers require sustained Federal support, clear 
climate adaptation guidance that addresses both physical 
infrastructure and psychological resilience, and reliable, 
consistently accessible, and locally relevant data in order 
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to assess local climate risks, identify strengths, resources, 
support networks, and other key protective factors, pre-
pare for and respond to climate change-related health 
threats, equitably serve at-risk populations and patients, 
and expand access and protections for temporarily and 
permanently displaced populations following a disaster; 
Whereas frontline health care workers and providers, particu-
larly those in underserved and resource-limited settings, 
face increased physical, mental, and psychosocial health 
risks from climate change-related events, including ex-
treme heat, poor air quality, infectious disease outbreaks, 
and disaster response demands, and must be equipped 
with the training, protections, and support necessary to 
continue delivering safe and equitable care; and 
Whereas delivering such support and guidance requires col-
laboration and coordination across the public health, data 
infrastructure, health insurance, quality improvement, 
workforce development, environmental health, and emer-
gency preparedness and response functions across the 
Department of Health and Human Services and relevant 
Federal agencies: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that— 
(1) the Department of Health and Human 
Services should use all practicable means and meas-
ures to increase the health sector’s climate readiness 
and response, including increasing the ability to 
withstand and maintain operations during extreme 
weather events, strengthening the climate resilience 
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of health infrastructure and supply chains, and low-
ering the sector’s environmental impact; 
(2) funding appropriated by Congress to facili-
tate energy efficiency retrofits, investments in clean 
vehicles and onsite renewable energy and storage, 
and planning for climate resilience projects by health 
care organizations and community-based organiza-
tions should be distributed without delay and with 
particular attention to historically underserved com-
munities and organizations by the responsible Fed-
eral agencies; 
(3) the Department of Health and Human 
Services should prioritize technical assistance, capac-
ity building, and equitable access to funding for 
Tribal health systems, rural hospitals and clinics, 
and historically underresourced health care providers 
to support climate adaptation and preparedness; 
(4) Federal agencies with responsibilities for 
public health, health care, and environmental data, 
including the Department of Health and Human 
Services, should orchestrate and support efforts to 
close information gaps and synthesize data on the 
health impacts of climate change, including mitiga-
tion and adaptation strategies, and use that infor-
mation to develop timely, targeted, accessible, and 
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evidence-based education and communication tools 
on climate-related health threats; 
(5) the Department of Health and Human 
Services should fully reinstate the Office of Climate 
Change and Health Equity and the Office of Envi-
ronmental Justice with the staffing and resources 
necessary to lead and coordinate departmental ef-
forts, guide equitable implementation, and use all 
available levers to address the health impacts of cli-
mate change for all people in the United States, and 
particularly for those most at risk; 
(6) critical agencies, staff, and programmatic 
functions necessary to support the goal of reducing 
the health impacts of climate change should be fully 
funded, reinstated, and supported, including— 
(A) those within the Administration for 
Children and Families; 
(B) the Administration for Strategic Pre-
paredness and Response; 
(C) the Agency for Healthcare Research 
and Quality; 
(D) the Indian Health Service; 
(E) those within the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention, such as the National 
Center for Environmental Health, the Agency 
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for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, and 
the National Institute for Occupational Safety 
and Health; and 
(F) those within the National Institutes of 
Health, including the Climate Change and 
Health Initiative; 
(7) investments in climate resilience and health 
infrastructure should include support for— 
(A) workforce training, job quality stand-
ards, and equitable access to careers in public 
health; 
(B) emergency preparedness and energy 
and environmental response, particularly for 
workers from historically underserved commu-
nities; and 
(C) community-led mental wellness and re-
silience building initiatives and mutual aid net-
works; 
(8) relevant Federal agencies, including the De-
partment of Health and Human Services, should en-
sure community-based organizations, Tribal govern-
ments, and environmental justice groups are mean-
ingfully engaged in climate-health decision-making 
processes, and are provided with the resources and 
authority necessary to lead and support local resil-
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ience efforts, including public health preparedness, 
infrastructure adaptation, emergency response plan-
ning, support for psychological and emotional well- 
being, and efforts to address climate-related health 
disparities; 
(9) the Department of Labor, through the Oc-
cupational Safety and Health Administration, should 
promulgate a worker heat protection standard that, 
in accordance with the best available evidence, estab-
lishes the maximum protective program of measures 
an employer shall implement to regulate employees’ 
exposure to heat stress and prevent heat-related ill-
ness and injury that attains the highest degree of 
health and safety protection to the extent feasible; 
and 
(10) the Department of Health and Human 
Services and other relevant Federal agencies should 
provide annual progress reports to Congress and the 
public on climate resilience investments, measurable 
health outcomes, and equitable distribution of re-
sources to vulnerable populations and regions. 
Æ 
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