The House approved a change to a massive spending bill that would keep the Environmental Protection Agency from using the Paris Agreement to impose more carbon emissions limits on the states.
Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., offered an amendment preventing the EPA from using any money in the $32.1 billion funding bill for the Department of Interior and Environmental Protection Agency to make any rules or regulations under section 115 of the Clean Air Act.
That section allows the EPA to mandate state emissions levels to whatever amount they deem necessary if they find that emissions from the United States endangers a foreign country. Perry said the Paris Agreement, the world’s first major agreement on climate change, could be used as an excuse for the EPA to impose more emissions cuts on the states.
“There is a serious concern and a legitimate concern that [President Obama] will act unilaterally to cement his environmental legacy in this way,” Perry said.
The amendment is now attached to the larger bill, which is expected to be voted on by the House later on Wednesday evening. The House was considering more than 50 amendments to the appropriations bill Wednesday afternoon and into the evening.
Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., said Perry’s proposal was just another attack by congressional Republicans on the Paris Agreement and the administration’s climate change plans. She said the amendment keeps the White House from even considering using the section to develop a recommendation on potentially using the section.
“Congress should not take a tool out of … a future administration’s climate tool box,” she said.
