Within his first hours at the White House, Joe Biden recommitted the United States to the controversial Paris Climate Agreement as part of his effort to save the environment.
“A cry for survival comes from the planet itself,” He said in his inaugural address. “A cry that can’t be more desperate or any more clear now.”
During his presidency, President Trump fulfilled a key campaign promise in withdrawing from the agreement, which committed the United States to dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Trump withdrew because he recognized that the agreement would hurt job growth, manufacturing and industries such as coal, natural gas, steel and cement.
The agreement was simply a bad deal: bad for American taxpayers, American energy companies and every American who relies on affordable, reliable energy.
As reported by Heritage, the energy regulations within the agreement would destroy hundreds of thousands of jobs, harm American manufacturing and destroy $2.5 trillion in GDP by 2035.
Indeed, the agreement wasted taxpayer money and will continue to do so. In negotiations leading up to the Paris conference, participants called for a Green Climate Fund that would collect $100 billion per year by 2020 with a goal of subsidizing green energy and paying for other mitigation programs in poor nations. The Obama administration gave $1 billion in taxpayer money to this fund, some of the recipients being the most corrupt governments in the world, Heritage reports.
Rejoining the agreement is undoubtedly going to take a toll on American energy companies. To be successful, energy companies need to be strong, competitive and innovative rather than molding themselves to international agreements.
While environmentalists everywhere celebrated the decision, which was long expected, republicans in the Senate called on Biden to submit his plan for “review and consideration,” according to Reuters.
Sen. Steve Daines submitted a resolution, backed by five other republicans, arguing the president should not be allowed to commit the United States to any international treaty without a two-thirds approval by the Senate.
“At the very least, I urge President Biden to do what the Obama administration refused to do and submit the Paris Agreement to the Senate for consideration as required under the Constitution,” Daines said.
Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso urged that the agreement wrongfully makes America the villain.
“The Paris climate agreement is based on the backward idea that the United States is a culprit here when in reality, the United States is the leading driver of climate solutions,” he said.
