President Joe Biden may soon declare a climate emergency, something climate activists have heartily pushed him to do following the breakdown in negotiations over his climate and social welfare spending bill.
Biden’s comments came while announcing $2.3 billion in Federal Emergency Management Agency funding Wednesday in Massachusetts, where he repeatedly pledged to take additional action to open the country to renewable energy sources.
BIDEN ANNOUNCES CLIMATE EXECUTIVE ACTION AMID PRESSURE TO DECLARE EMERGENCY
“Since Congress is not acting as it should,” the president said, “this is an emergency, an emergency, and I will look at it that way.”
“As president, I’ll use my executive powers to combat the climate crisis in the absence of congressional action, notwithstanding their incredible action,” he continued. “In the coming days, my administration will announce the executive action we have developed to combat this emergency. We need to act.”
Activists have ratcheted up pressure on the president to declare a climate emergency, but White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre shied away from the issue during Tuesday’s press briefing.
“One thing that I just want to step back and just lay out for all of you: The president was one of the first in Congress, when he was a senator, to ring the bell, the alarm bell, on climate crisis,” she told reporters. “He’s not going to just stop with the actions of tomorrow, but I would not plan an announcement this week on national climate emergency.”
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You can watch Biden’s remarks in full below.
