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“I support many overall goals here, but the United States approached this entire Paris climate agreement all wrong. Last fall, while the duly elected legislatures in other nations, like Canada and the European Union, hosted hearings, debates, and ultimately voted on the Paris Accord, President Obama chose to bypass the Constitution and enter into this sweeping international agreement without seeking congressional approval. These types of agreements should be agreed to in a transparent manner that follows the Constitution and the law. Additionally, while other nations made modest commitments pegged to their GDP growth, President Obama made a unilateral pledge to bring emissions 25-28% below 2005 levels by 2025. There are some very important practical issues with that pledge regarding feasibility, which especially include unmanageable time constraints and energy cost increases for Americans.
What we need to do moving forward should include continuing to take an international approach to protect clean air and clean water, and reduce emissions that are impacting our climate, but we must negotiate it correctly so that we aren’t overpromising, under-delivering and causing unnecessary harm. Additionally, and very importantly, we really need to do much better to get other nations to do their part. Paris allows China and other nations to eventually renege on their commitments and actually increase emissions with no consequences, which is ridiculous for us to sign off on in return for an infeasible concession on our side. Any international deal going forward also needs congressional input and a vote that lays out the negotiating goals and a ratification vote after the fact.
As a member of the Bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus, I will support reasonable policy solutions that address the impacts, causes, and challenges of our changing climate. This has included clean and green energy research funding that directly supports important work taking place at SUNY Stony Brook and Brookhaven National Lab. I’ve also been a strong advocate for important environmental funding that impacts eastern Long Island, including the Long Island Sound Program and National Estuary Program.”
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