Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy defended the Obama administration’s climate agenda during a Thursday House hearing, saying a warming planet creates a “serious public health and economic problem.”

McCarthy said that climate change and runaway carbon pollution have exacerbated asthma complications, extended allergy seasons and helped spread diseases uncommon to regional climates. She said forthcoming EPA emissions regulations for new and existing power plants, as well as ones on mercury and other pollutants, would address those issues.