President Joe Biden will announce new climate change actions he can take on his own just days after an influential Democratic senator dashed hopes of a sweeping legislative package. about new environmental programs this year.
Biden will announce the latest efforts during Wednesday’s visit to a former coal-fired power plant in Somerset, Massachusetts, which is transitioning to offshore wind production. It embodies the transition to clean energy that Biden is seeking but has struggled to make during the first 18 months of his presidency.
Wednesday’s executive actions include new initiatives to boost the offshore wind industry in the country as well as efforts to help communities cope with rising temperatures through programs run by the Administration Federal Emergency Management and the Department of Health and Human Services, according to a White House official.
But the actions Biden announced on Wednesday will not include declaring a national emergency to tackle the climate crisis – something that has been sought by activists and Democratic lawmakers after the Senate. Congressman Joe Manchin, DW.Va., last week discussed a legislative package. .
White House officials said the option was still under consideration, although press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday declined to outline a timetable for a decision other than saying there would be no order. Such is issued this week.
Senator Ed Markey, D-Mass., said he is “confident that the president is ultimately ready to do whatever it takes to respond to this crisis.”
“I think he made that very clear in his statement last Friday, and I think coming to Massachusetts is an even clearer demonstration of his purpose,” Markey told reporters on Tuesday. that goal,” Markey told reporters.
Biden has come under considerable pressure to issue a climate emergency declaration that would allow him to redirect federal resources to support renewable energy programs that help accelerate the transition. from fossil fuels.
Jean-Pierre declined to detail internal considerations about such a claim, similar to that of Biden’s Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, who declared a national emergency to build on. a wall on the southern border when lawmakers refused to allocate money for it. try.
Last week, Biden pledged to take significant regulatory actions on climate after months-long discussions between Manchin and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., reached an impasse. The West Virginia senator cited high inflation as the reason for his hesitation.
For now, Manchin said he would only agree to a legislative package that would increase subsidies to help people buy insurance under the 2010 health care law as well as allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices that would ultimately reduce them. pharmaceutical costs to consumers.
The White House has said it wants Congress to make that deal and the president to tackle the climate issue on his own.
“I will use every power that I have as president to continue to deliver on my commitment to move forward in response to global warming,” Biden told reporters over the weekend in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, after negotiations between Schumer and Manchin derailed.
On Wednesday, Mr. Biden will visit the former Brayton Point power station, which closed in 2017 after burning coal for more than five decades. The plant will now become an offshore wind production site.
