As a part of this plan, Obama outlined measures, including transferring $100 million from the farm bill for livestock disaster assistance, an additional $15 million in relief for California and other states suffering from extreme drought, and a moratorium on water usage for new, non-essential landscaping projects at federal facilities.
In addition, Obama plans to add $1 billion to his proposed budget to establish a “Climate Resilience Fund” to encourage research on the impacts of climate change, development of technologies to help communities prepare for climate change, and to establish incentives to build more resilient infrastructure. This funding is part of a move to focus “on how all these changes in weather patterns are going to have an impact up and down the United States — not just on the coast but inland as well — and how do we start preparing for that.” Climate change has already contributed to drought conditions and extreme weather events throughout the country, including wildfires, all of which have affected food production and resulted in increased agricultural and stormwater runoff. In 2010, the United States declared 81 presidential disasters, a figure that rose to 99 in 2011, contributing to an estimated $188 billion in costs and 1,107 fatalities. White House spokesman Matt Lehrich told POLITICO that Obama “is going to continue to make the case that climate change is already hurting Americans around the country and that it will only get worse for our children and grandchildren if we leave it for future generations to deal with.” Unfortunately, because a number of congressional Republicans deny climate science, it is uncertain whether a budget would pass with the Climate Resilience Fund intact.