President Obama laid out a billion-dollar climate change challenge on Saturday, urging the nation to help combat the effects of natural disasters.

‘Can you imagine a more worthy goal, a more worthy legacy, than protecting the world we leave to our children,” the president said as he delivered the commencement address at the University of California, Irvine.

“U.S. action is critical on climate change, as the world is watching and will follow the U.S.’s lead, he said. ‘This is a fight America must lead.”

Obama announced a $1 billion fund for towns and cities recovering from disasters that would ‘help communities prepare for the impacts of climate change and build more resilient infrastructure across the country.”

‘In some parts of the country, weather-related disasters like droughts, fires, storms and floods are going to get harsher and costlier,” he said.

According to the White House, approximately $180 million will be set aside for relief efforts to address critical housing needs in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the 2012 storm that severely impacted New York and New Jersey.

In his address, Obama criticized lawmakers who opposed climate change, calling them ‘a serious threat to everybody’s future.”

‘Today’s Congress, though, is full of folks who stubbornly and automatically reject the […]