"It's past time to declare a climate emergency."
Democratic progressives introduce legislation to mandate action by Biden.
2/4/2020 - Special Alert
Representative Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, introduced legislation today that would mandate President Biden to declare a “climate emergency.”
The bill compares the action needed on the climate crisis to the wartime mobilization during World War II and urges Biden to declare an emergency under the National Emergencies Act, thus enabling more than 100 additional presidential powers to tackle the crisis.
The National Emergencies Act would give Biden enormous new powers, for example, to, reinstitute a ban on crude oil exports, send emergency aid packages to states, or redirect billions of dollars of funding away from defense projects and toward the production of renewable energy.
“It’s past time that a climate emergency is declared,” Blumenauer said in a statement. “This bill can finally get it done.”
The bill is going nowhere and is really a nudge from Congressional progressives who want to remind Biden that they’re still there. The President can invoke emergency powers anytime he wants to without authorization from Congress. On February 15, 2019, President Trump declared a national emergency and announced that he would divert $6.7 billion from military construction, pay, pension, and other accounts to build a border wall that Congress had denied.
You are reading a free special alert from the EarthWatch newsletter. My plan is to publish two or three updates a week—at least one of them free. If you want to receive all updates and special alerts, as well as read, comment, and take part in the ongoing dialogue, you will need to subscribe. Thanks for your support.
EarthWatch is written by Jerry Bowles Feel free to send along tips and ideas.
.