US President Joe Biden is considering issuing a climate emergency decree that would allow him to marshal sweeping powers against global warming although he’s not expected to do that this week, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday.
Without giving many specifics, she said that a certain pot of funding would get unlocked if the administration does declare an emergency.
Biden is to announce on Wednesday during his climate announcement speech in Massachusetts his plans to steer federal dollars to heat-ravaged communities as part of the executive action to confront climate change.
Although earlier in the day, two sources noted that an emergency declaration could come as soon as Wednesday, one of them later said that the White House later advised that it would not do so on that day.
Declining to directly comment on whether Biden will pursue a climate emergency declaration, a White House official only said that no decision has been made, reiterating Biden’s remarks that if the Senate doesn’t act to tackle the climate crisis and strengthen the US domestic clean energy industry, he will.
As part of Biden’s broader economic agenda, the potential climate legislation was expected to include major investments in clean energy.
Meanwhile, the hopes for climate action on Capitol Hill have stalled while the Northern Hemisphere is sweltering in a miserable vision of a future seared by climate change.
Following months of negotiations, the swing vote Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) backed away from talks last week, freezing the political momentum for aggressive, world-leading action by the United States.
In the days that followed, some Democrats – including Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse and Jeff Merkley – and activists have been putting pressure on the Biden administration to explore as an option declaring a climate emergency.
Biden, who came to office vowing to save the planet, must also deal with demands to end domestic fossil fuel subsidies and to end US donor support for fossil fuel projects and infrastructure overseas.
Be the first to comment