House Democrats pass bill directing Trump to stay in Paris climate deal

The clock is ticking….”The science demands an economy-wide mobilization to end our addiction to dirty energy and harness renewable sources on an ambitious new scale,” she said.”

House Democrats pass bill directing Trump to stay in Paris climate deal

Paris climate deal

Only a few Republicans crossed party lines to vote for the measure, which Mitch McConnell said will ‘go nowhere’

Nancy Pelosi noted the bill is one of many measures Democrats are passing that the Republican-controlled Senate won’t consider.
Nancy Pelosi noted the bill is one of many measures Democrats are passing that the Republican-controlled Senate won’t consider. Photograph: Thomas Samson/AFP/Getty Images

Democrats on Thursday passed their first significant climate change legislation since gaining control of the House of Representatives this year, directing Donald Trump to remain in the landmark international agreement to limit the pollution that is heating the world.

The measure would not directly reduce the greenhouse gases causing worse heatwaves, droughts, wildfires and storms. It falls far short of the action scientists say is needed and the vision outlined by progressives and supported by many Democrat presidential candidates in the Green New Deal.

“My colleagues on the left think these self-inflicted national injuries just feel  like this greening of America is the right thing to do,” McConnell said in a statement. Republicans in the House have also sought to force a vote on the Green New Deal, expecting that many Democrats would not be able to stand behind the specifics and the costs of the sweeping proposal.

The US in the global deal agreed to cut its climate pollution 26-28{5fc40a96f14c4a6aa4c2a32569b0a57dcc67c0b31eb04c341474283f11b6cdd2} by 2025, but data shows the country far off track from that goal.

Democrats defended their efforts, calling climate change an immediate danger to the American public and the world.

“Last year was an abject failure in addressing the climate crisis in both policy and real-world emission reductions. In the US and globally, we fell short,” said Illinois congressman Mike Quigley, a Democrat. “We cannot afford another year like it.”

Trump cannot formally leave the deal until a day after the 2020 election.

In a morning press conference ahead of the vote, the House Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi, did not expand on her party’s climate plans, but noted the bill is one of many measures Democrats are passing that the Republican-controlled Senate will not consider.

Jean Su, the Center for Biological Diversity’s energy director, called the bill necessary “but far from sufficient”.

“The science demands an economy-wide mobilization to end our addiction to dirty energy and harness renewable sources on an ambitious new scale,” she said.