III 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. CON. RES. 17 

Expressing the sense of Congress that the United States should withdraw 

from the Paris Agreement, adopted in December 2015. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 22, 2017 

Mr. PAUL (for himself, Mr. INHOFE, Mr. WICKER, Mr. RISCH, Mr. ENZI, Mr. 

HATCH, and Mr. CRUZ) submitted the following concurrent resolution; 

which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of Congress that the United States 

should withdraw from the Paris Agreement, adopted in 

December 2015. 

Whereas the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (in this resolution referred to as the ‘‘Convention’’), adopted in May 1992, entered into force in 

1994 and is being implemented; 

Whereas the Paris Agreement, adopted in December 2015, is 

another attempt by the Convention’s ‘‘Conference of Parties’’ to globally address climate change, similar to the 

Kyoto Protocol, the Durban Platform, the Copenhagen 

Accord, and the Cancun Agreements, all of which have 

failed to meaningfully slow global carbon emissions; 


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•SCON 17 IS 

Whereas the Paris Agreement fails to consider adequately 

economies that would be negatively impacted by measures 

to respond to climate change, including those found within the United States, as addressed in Article 4, Paragraph 10 of the Convention; 

Whereas the Paris Agreement has not been submitted to the 

United States Senate for review and ratification; 

Whereas the Paris Agreement could result in serious harm to 

the United States economy, including significant job loss, 

increased energy and consumer costs, risks to grid reliability, or any combination thereof; 

Whereas, by using the free market, the United States has 

significantly reduced carbon dioxide emissions to the lowest they have been in 15 years, and the United States energy-related carbon dioxide emissions are projected to remain below 2005 levels through 2040, while such emissions in the developing world are projected to grow to 

120 percent above 2005 levels by 2040; 

Whereas the People’s Republic of China is the world’s largest 

emitter of carbon dioxide and, in accordance with the 

2014 agreement with the United States entered into during the Barack Obama Presidency, intends to increase its 

coal consumption until 2030; 

Whereas the Republic of India announced that, notwithstanding the Paris Agreement, it will continue its reliance 

on coal and plans to double the nation’s coal output within the next 5 years; 

Whereas, according to an October 2015 MIT Technology Review report, increased coal consumption in the Republic 

of India will negate any global efforts to limit carbon diVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:21 May 22, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SC17.IS SC17

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•SCON 17 IS 

oxide, regardless of anything that the United States does 

to decrease its emissions; and 

Whereas the emissions reduction goals of the Paris Agreement cannot be met without the global development and 

deployment of new technologies that are not currently in 

commercial existence or economically viable: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 

2 concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that the 

3 United States should withdraw from the Paris Agreement, 

4 adopted in December 2015. 

Æ 


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