A group of House Republicans joined Democrats in pressing President Trump Wednesday not to withdraw from the Paris climate change agreement.
The group sent a letter to Trump, led by Florida Reps. Ted Deutch, a Democrat, and Carlos Curbelo, a Republican, asking Trump to join the world’s leading nations in confronting climate change. Florida is experiencing tidal surges and other environment effects that both Republicans and Democrats blame on global warming.
“The world’s leading nations must work together to not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but also mitigate and prepare for the effects of climate change, which many of our communities are dealing with on a daily basis,” the letter read. Many climate scientists blame greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels for driving manmade climate change.
Some Republican lawmakers form Pennsylvania signed onto the letter, including Reps. Ryan Costello, Brian Fitzpatrick and Patrick Meehan. They were joined by nearly 20 Democrats as part of the House’s bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus.
“It is imperative that we maintain our seat at the table in global discussions of how to address the threats posed by climate change,” the letter added.
The White House postponed a meeting among Trump’s top advisers last week to discuss whether to withdraw from the Paris Agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
A growing number of the president’s Cabinet support remaining as a signatory to the agreement, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, and most recently Energy Secretary Rick Perry.
Perry said Tuesday that the U.S.’s role in the accord should be renegotiated, but the U.S. should not leave the agreement. The White House has not set a new date for the consensus talks, but it has said that it will make a decision at the end of May.
