Capitol Abuzz With Climate Action

A new committee and the first climate bill of the new Congress show that the climate crisis is back on the front-burner.

Climate action is continuing to pick up momentum across the Capitol. Today, members of the House of Representatives, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, introduced H.R. 9, a bill meant to urge the United States to honor its Paris Agreement commitments. Separately, Senate Democrats announced the creation of a 10-member Special Committee on the Climate Crisis, chaired by Hawaii senator Brian Schatz, which will hold hearings and issue findings on the “economic and national security consequences of climate change.”

“Thanks to a new generation of leaders and many dedicated veteran activists, new action is emerging in Congress on how best to deal with the central environmental threat of our time,” says Aliya Haq, director of the federal policy group in NRDC’s Climate & Clean Energy program.

H.R. 9, called the Climate Action Now Act, would effectively recommit the United States to the Paris Agreement, requiring President Trump to send a plan to Congress detailing how the country will meet its emissions reduction targets. Since Trump announced the United States’ withdrawal back in June 2017, a wave of states, cities, and corporations have stepped up and announced plans to stick to the country’s climate goals set under the landmark 2015 agreement.

The Green New Deal, H.R. 9, and the new committee are evidence that the new 116th Congress is prioritizing climate. “With many bills beginning to flower and a strong majority of Americans behind us, as well as the countless cities and states already cutting climate pollution, we will succeed,” Haq says. “Future generations are counting on us.’’