John Kerry, Chuck Hagel testify on national security, climate change

Where it stands: Kerry — who was the chief architect of the 2015 Paris climate agreement that Trump vowed to withdraw America from — told Axios this week he will continue to speak out about Trump’s actions.

“It’s a level of political and moral irresponsibility that is unparalleled, except for a couple of wars that shouldn’t have been fought. This is very serious business. People are going to die because of decisions made and not made. You’re going to have billions if not trillions of damage directly related to the fact that the United States has walked away from where we were going on climate.”

Reality check: That’s strong rhetoric. The reality is a bit more nuanced. Climate change is like diabetes for the planet: It makes existing weather conditions, like heat waves and rain events, worse. It is tough to pinpoint the weight of Trump’s actions because this plays itself out over decades and centuries, not election cycles.

The bottom line: But it is correct to say generally that he’s making global efforts to address climate change — an already very heavy lift — much harder, not easier.

Go deeper: The House Oversight Committee webpage for the hearing is here.