Here's The Sad Bit About Today's Vote On Paris Treaty; First House Climate Bill In 10 Years
If it were up to the House Democrats, the U.S. would still be a part of the Paris Climate Agreement. In fact, they all voted Thursday to pass a bill that aims to reinstate our role in this international accord. So did three Republicans, reports E&E News. And that’s about as much Republican support as the bill’s likely to see.
The bill, H.R. 9 or the Climate Action Now Act, is the first major climate legislation to make it out of the House of Representatives in almost 10 years. That’s because the House used to be run by the GOP. Unfortunately, the Republicans still control the White House and the Senate, so this bill has a snowball’s chance in hell of becoming law. In fact, Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell has already said he won’t be considering it, according to Reuters. And President Donald Trump signing a bill that reverses his decision to leave the Paris Agreement seems like pure fantasy.
The president pulled the U.S. from the international agreement back in June 2017. When the historic agreement was signed, countries set forth emissions reductions goals aimed at keeping the planet from warming 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. In the perfect world, global temperatures would not rise above 1.5 degrees Celsius, but that feels more and more unlikely every day.
Anyway, the Climate Action Now Act would throw the U.S. back in the ring by preventing Trump from using federal funds to pull the U.S. out of the agreement (which we can’t formally withdraw from until 2020) and draw up a plan to reduce our nationwide emissions, which are among the highest in the world. Rep. Kathy Castor of Florida introduced the bill back in March.
EDIT
https://earther.gizmodo.com/the-house-just-passed-its-first-climate-change-bill-in-1834485195
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