U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin Joins Bipartisan Group Urging President Trump to Keep the United States in the Paris Climate Agreement

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin helped introduce a new resolution, led by Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), calling for the United States to remain in the Paris Climate Agreement

Yesterday, President Donald Trump started the official process to withdraw the United States from this historic international agreement. Parties to the Paris Agreement pledged to reduce carbon pollution in an amount and manner determined by each nation that puts the world on a strong trajectory to address climate change.

With an understanding that the Paris Agreement allows the United States to set how much it would reduce pollution and how it would meet these self-determined goals, the resolution opens with a sense of the Senate that the United States should “work in cooperation with the international community and continue to exercise global leadership in our shared responsibilities, including holding parties accountable for meeting their commitments, and address the causes and effects of climate change.” It also encourages the development of domestic policies to achieve greenhouse gas emission cuts as outlined by the Paris Agreement and “achieve maximum benefits for the United States” by implementing its commitments under the agreement.

“Let there be no doubt, climate change is a real, immediate and growing threat to national security, public health and our economy. The longer we fail to act, the more costly climate change will be,” said Senator Baldwin. “Backing out of the Paris Agreement and turning our back on the rest of the world after years of strong U.S. leadership is a costly mistake. We have a moral obligation to future generations to do something about this challenge. It’s now or never and we can’t accept never from this President. We must take action now."

Joining Baldwin and Cardin to introduce the resolution were Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Ed Markey (D-MA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Tom Udall (D-NM), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Jack Reed (D-RI), Chris Coons (D-DE), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Tom Carper (D-DE), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Tina Smith (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Mark Warner (D-VA) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH).

The full text of the resolution (S. Res. 404) is available here.