Senate Western Caucus Chair Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) joined U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) in reintroducing the Real Emergencies Act. This legislation seeks to clarify that the president does not have the authority to declare a national emergency on the premise of climate change. The administration implementing a climate emergency would be incredibly harmful to domestic energy production in Wyoming and throughout the west.
“I will not let President Biden abuse his powers to force the Green New Deal on the west,” said Senator Lummis. “My home state of Wyoming has already been devastated by the Biden administration’s spending, the resulting inflation and burdensome regulations that have significantly increased costs, hurt small businesses and sent good-paying jobs overseas. We cannot allow the Biden administration to reuse the COVID-19 playbook of declaring an endless emergency to allow the federal government to expand and gain control over every facet of our lives.”
Specifically, the Real Emergencies Act would prohibit the president from using the three primary statutory authorities available (the National Emergencies Act, the Stafford Act, and section 319 of the Public Health Service Act) to declare a national emergency solely on the basis of climate change. Actual national emergencies or major disasters (hurricanes, flooding, etc.) may still be declared.
Click here to read the full bill text.
