House Democrats introduce bill to keep the US in the Paris Agreement

The Paris Agreement was signed by almost every country in the world, with the exception of Nicaragua and Syria. The signatory countries promised to take steps to hold global warming to 2°C, and the United States pledged to contribute $3 billion to help more impoverished countries reach the common goal.

Although Trump announced his intention to break the agreement two years ago, the terms of the agreement have required that the US continue to submit progress reports until it can formally petition to exit the Paris Agreement in November 2019. The US will have to remain in the agreement for a year after that before it can exit.

The Climate Action Now bill would “prohibit any federal funds from being used to take any action to advance the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement,” according to a press release on Castor’s site.

“The legislation would also call on President Trump to develop and make public a plan for how the United States will meet the pollution reduction goals submitted to the world in 2015,” the press release added. “He has an obligation to lead on this issue and to help our nation achieve our commitment of an economy-wide reduction in carbon pollution by between 26 percent-28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025.”

Rep. Castor is the chairwoman of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, which was recently created after Democrats took control of the House. Although the bill has reasonable odds of passing the Democrat-controlled House, its odds in the Republican-controlled Senate are far from certain. Earlier on Wednesday, Senate Republicans halted a resolution to create a Senate committee on climate change, and on Tuesday the Senate forced a vote that killed progress on the Green New Deal.