E&E DAILY | Republicans yesterday proposed legislation to prevent President Joe Biden from declaring a climate emergency, a day after another dire warning from scientists about the consequences of climate change.
Senate Environment and Public Works Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) led introduction of the "Real Emergencies Act," which would specify that the president cannot declare a national emergency because of climate change.
It's in part a messaging effort aimed at tying Biden to the left flank of his party and the Green New Deal. Progressive advocacy groups and lawmakers have urged him to declare a climate emergency, but the president has not actually proposed to do so (E&E Daily, March 18).
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has also said he believes Biden should declare a climate emergency to unlock executive powers without Congress passing a climate bill.
Capito said in a statement that Biden is "coordinating with extreme environmental groups behind the scenes to lay the groundwork to implement the administration’s zealous climate agenda by declaring a 'national climate emergency.'"
The bill has a long list of GOP co-sponsors, including Senate Energy ranking member John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), and a House companion introduced by Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.), ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change.
The legislation comes after the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said in a new report this week that meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement — and avoiding the most devastating climate impacts — would take immediate and wide-ranging action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (Greenwire, April 4).
In a fact sheet accompanying the legislation, Republicans say Biden would not have power to declare a climate emergency under current law, but the new bill would nonetheless make it explicit.