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WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Biden is expected to re-enter the Paris Climate Agreement, once again bypassing ratification by the United States Congress. According to a study by the Heritage Foundation, the agreement could lead to a 13-20% increase in household electricity expenditures. It could also cause an average income loss of more than $20,000 for a family of four, as well as an aggregate GDP loss of over $2.5 trillion by 2035. While costing Americans trillions of dollars, the agreement permits the world’s largest carbon emitter, China, to make meager contributions. Under the agreement, China – the second largest economy in the world – may continue raising carbon emissions until 2030, and has only committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2060, a full decade later than all other major economies. China also continues to export coal-fired power plants globally through their Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) further signaling their lack of genuine commitment to combatting climate change. Below is a statement from House Foreign Affairs Committee Lead Republican Michael McCaul. 

“President Biden claimed throughout his campaign he wanted a ‘renewal of a politics that’s about solving problems.’ Yet one of the first moves of his presidency was to unilaterally return the United States to the irresponsible and controversial Paris Climate Agreement – bypassing meaningful input from the private sector that would be severely impacted by it, and bypassing what I believe to be Constitutionally-mandated ratification by the U.S. Senate. We can all agree the climate is changing and we must take steps to address it through innovation and technology, but it is dangerous and rash to threaten U.S. competitiveness and national security while China is let off the hook.  If the president truly wanted to build a bipartisan consensus on climate change policy, he should have allowed this to be debated and voted on by the United States Senate.”

This week, Lead Republican McCaul will introduce a bill requiring the President submit a notification to Congress at least 30 days prior to submitting a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement on behalf of the United States. The notification must include a cost-benefit analysis as well as an economic justification for the NDC. In addition, the notification must explain how the NDC will support U.S. global competitiveness, how it will impact our national security, and how NDC commitments made by adversaries like China and Russia are minimal, not impactful in reducing global emissions, and could disproportionally advantage them over the United States.

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