I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2578 

To seek the renegotiation of the Paris Agreement on climate change or 

the negotiation of a new agreement, including the requirement for the 

Senate to provide its advice and consent to ratification of any such 

agreement, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 15, 2021 

Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana (for himself, Mrs. RODGERS of Washington, Mr. 

MCCAUL, Mr. MCCARTHY, Mr. SCALISE, Mr. LUCAS, Mr. THOMPSON of 

Pennsylvania, Mr. WESTERMAN, Ms. FOXX, Mr. MCKINLEY, Mr. CARTER

of Georgia, Mr. GONZALEZ of Ohio, Mrs. MILLER of West Virginia, and 

Mr. ARMSTRONG) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on 

Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each 

case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of 

the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To seek the renegotiation of the Paris Agreement on climate 

change or the negotiation of a new agreement, including 

the requirement for the Senate to provide its advice 

and consent to ratification of any such agreement, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 2578 IH

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may cited as the ‘‘Paris Transparency and 

3 Accountability Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS THAT THE UNITED STATES 

5 SHOULD NOT REENTER THE PARIS AGREE6 MENT ABSENT FURTHER NEGOTIATIONS AND 

7 ADVICE AND CONSENT TO RATIFICATION OF 

8 THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 

9 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

10 (1) On May 9, 1992, the United States Senate 

11 provided its advice and consent to ratification re12 garding the United Nations Framework Convention 

13 on Climate Change (Framework Convention), which 

14 entered into force on March 21, 1994. 

15 (2) The Framework Convention was ratified 

16 under the express limitation that a decision by the 

17 Conference of the Parties to adopt targets and time18 tables would have to be submitted to the Senate for 

19 its advice and consent. 

20 (3) The Kyoto Protocol, completed at the 3d 

21 Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Framework 

22 Convention in December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, con23 tains emissions targets and timetables, and was 

24 signed by the Clinton Administration on behalf of 

25 the United States but never submitted to the Senate 

26 for its advice and consent to ratification. 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 2578 IH

1 (4) The United Nations Climate Change 

2 website states: ‘‘The Paris Agreement is a legally 

3 binding international treaty on climate change.’’. 

4 And yet this United Nations designated ‘‘legally 

5 binding international treaty’’ has never been sub6 mitted to the United States Senate for advice and 

7 consent as required of treaties under article II, sec8 tion 2 of the Constitution. 

9 (5) The Paris Agreement and every article and 

10 clause thereof was accepted by President Barack 

11 Obama on behalf of the United States solely through 

12 executive action, rather than submitted to the Sen13 ate for its advice and consent to ratification. 

14 (6) Implementation of the Paris Agreement 

15 would serve as justification for pursuing unilateral 

16 and punitive policies harmful to United States eco17 nomic competitiveness, including significant job loss, 

18 increased energy and consumer costs, risks to grid 

19 reliability, or any combination thereof. 

20 (7) When originally negotiating the Paris 

21 Agreement, incoming Special Presidential Envoy for 

22 Climate John Kerry stated, if . . . ‘‘all the indus23 trial nations went down to zero emissions, it 

24 wouldn’t be enough, not when more than 65 percent 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 2578 IH

1 of the world’s carbon pollution comes from the devel2 oping world’’. 

3 (8) The Paris Agreement allows the People’s 

4 Republic of China, the world’s second largest econ5 omy and largest emitter of greenhouse gasses, to 

6 continue as a developing country, and therefore jus7 tify energy and industrial policies that undermine 

8 the economic and security interests of the United 

9 States and its allies, and significantly increase emis10 sions in the foreseeable future. 

11 (9) The People’s Republic of China is on track 

12 to increase its emissions by roughly 50 percent by 

13 2030, consistent with the 2014 agreement with the 

14 Obama Administration and its pledge under the 

15 Paris Agreement. 

16 (10) Since 2005 the People’s Republic of China 

17 increased emissions by four tons for every ton of 

18 emissions reduced by the United States during the 

19 same period. 

20 (11) To protect the interests of the United 

21 States and its citizens, prior to its submission to the 

22 United States Senate for its advice and consent to 

23 ratification, the Paris Agreement should be renegoti24 ated or new agreement negotiated to ensure the Peo25 ple’s Republic of China reduces greenhouse gas 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 2578 IH

1 emissions at a pace and scale equivalent to that of 

2 the United States. 

3 (12) Through innovation and free market 

4 forces, the United States has reduced its carbon di5 oxide emissions more than any other country in the 

6 world, including the next 12 emissions-reducing 

7 countries combined over the past 15 years. 

8 (13) Between 1994 and 2018, global green9 house gas emissions grew significantly despite nearly 

10 a quarter century of international climate agree11 ments and in spite of the United States, the Euro12 pean Union and other Organisation for Economic 

13 Co-operation and Development (OECD) and G7 na14 tions reducing their emissions during the same time 

15 period. 

16 (14) The emissions reduction goals of the Paris 

17 Agreement cannot be met without the development 

18 and global deployment of affordable energy tech19 nologies, including storage, nuclear, and clean fossil 

20 technologies, as well as commercial-scale carbon, 

21 capture, utilization, and storage technologies. 

22 (15) American economic growth and prosperity 

23 is essential to the development and deployment of 

24 these technologies to address global energy security 

25 and reduction of global emissions. Punitive policies 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 2578 IH

1 such as taxes, mandates and regulations that in2 crease the cost of energy and American manufac3 turing will divert resources from the innovation of 

4 affordable technologies necessary to reduce global 

5 emissions. 

6 (16) Global competitors to exported American 

7 liquified natural gas, such as Russian produced nat8 ural gas, have lifecycle emissions up to 50 percent 

9 higher than American exported liquified natural gas, 

10 and domestic policies such as taxes, mandates, regu11 lations or banning of the domestically produced en12 ergy resource will result in higher global emissions 

13 and run counter to the goals of international efforts 

14 to reduce emissions all while hurting America’s com15 petitiveness, security, and economic interests. 

16 (17) The United States withdrew from the 

17 Paris Agreement, pursuant to the terms of the 

18 Agreement, which President Donald J. Trump first 

19 announced on June 1, 2017, and took effect on No20 vember 4, 2020. 

21 (18) On January 20, 2021, President Joseph 

22 R. Biden, Jr., signed an Executive order providing 

23 for the United States to reenter the Paris Agree24 ment. 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 2578 IH

1 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con2 gress that the United States should not reenter the Paris 

3 Agreement and Congress should refuse to consider any 

4 budget resolutions and appropriations language that in5 clude funding for the Green Climate Fund or any affili6 ated body or financing mechanism— 

7 (1) until the Paris Agreement is renegotiated, 

8 or a new agreement is reached, in a manner that 

9 would result in all major emitters, including the Peo10 ple’s Republic of China, reducing their greenhouse 

11 gas emissions to levels comparable to the United 

12 States; and 

13 (2) unless such agreement— 

14 (A) is submitted to the United States Sen15 ate for its advice and consent to ratification; 

16 and 

17 (B) subsequently approved by the United 

18 States Senate exercising its responsibilities 

19 under Article II of the Constitution of the 

20 United States. 

21 SEC. 3. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION RELATING TO PARIS 

22 AGREEMENT. 

23 (a) RELATING TO PARIS AGREEMENT.—Nothing in 

24 the Paris Agreement may be used to establish or dem25 onstrate the existence of a violation of United States law 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 2578 IH

1 or an offense against the law of nations in United States 

2 courts, including— 

3 (1) to establish standing, a cause of action, or 

4 a source of damages as a matter of law; or 

5 (2) to demonstrate whether an action by a Fed6 eral agency is arbitrary or capricious, an abuse of 

7 discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law. 

8 (b) RELATING TO THIS ACT.—Nothing in subsection 

9 (a) may be construed to modify or limit any obligation 

10 of the United States pursuant to an international treaty 

11 that was ratified by the President with the advice and con12 sent of the Senate, including the United Nations Frame13 work Convention on Climate Change. 

14 SEC. 4. ACTIONS TO ESTABLISH OR REVISE UNITED STATES 

15 NATIONALLY DETERMINED CONTRIBUTION 

16 UNDER THE PARIS AGREEMENT. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Any action to establish or revise 

18 the United States nationally determined contribution 

19 under the Paris Agreement shall have force and effect only 

20 if— 

21 (1) before the President submits the nationally 

22 determined contribution to the United Nations 

23 Framework Convention on Climate Change Secre24 tariat, the President submits to Congress a report 

25 that— 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
9 

•HR 2578 IH

1 (A) describes the proposed action; 

2 (B) includes a plan for the United States 

3 to meet its nationally determined contribution 

4 under the Paris Agreement that includes— 

5 (i) a complete description of measures 

6 under the authority of the Federal Govern7 ment necessary to achieve the United 

8 States nationally determined contribution, 

9 including new or revised regulations, new 

10 or revised authorities that require congres11 sional actions, and new or revised financial 

12 incentives; 

13 (ii) a description of how the United 

14 States will use the Paris Agreement’s 

15 transparency provisions to confirm that 

16 other parties to the Agreement, including 

17 all major emitters, are fulfilling their an18 nounced contributions to the Agreement; 

19 (iii) a description of how the United 

20 States will utilize numerous energy 

21 sources, including nuclear, fossil fuel, and 

22 renewable technologies, to meet the nation23 ally determined contribution; 

24 (iv) a description of any impact on 

25 grid resilience and reliability that would reVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:33 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2578.IH H2578

pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
10 

•HR 2578 IH

1 sult from policies necessary to meet the na2 tionally determined contribution; 

3 (v) a description of how the nationally 

4 determined contribution will promote the 

5 availability of diversified energy supplies 

6 and a well-functioning global market for 

7 energy resources, technologies, and exper8 tise for the benefit of the United States 

9 and United States allies and trading part10 ners; 

11 (vi) a description of how the nation12 ally determined contribution will support 

13 United States international efforts to al14 leviate energy poverty; 

15 (vii) an analysis of the impact of in16 creased costs of energy or vital household 

17 expenditures on low- or middle-income 

18 families, and any disproportionate or in19 creased burden on such families, as a re20 sult of the nationally determined contribu21 tion; 

22 (viii) a description of how the nation23 ally determined contribution will support 

24 United States efforts to counter malign 

25 Chinese, Russian, and other adversarial inVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:33 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2578.IH H2578

pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
11 

•HR 2578 IH

1 fluence and domination over energy supply 

2 chains; and 

3 (ix) a description of how the nation4 ally determined contribution will impact 

5 United States national security interests; 

6 (C) includes, for any measure described in 

7 subparagraph (B)(i) that could result in in8 creased costs of energy produced or consumed 

9 in the United States or increased costs to man10 ufacture or produce goods or resources in the 

11 United States, a description of specific policy 

12 measures to prevent— 

13 (i) job displacement that would result 

14 as a result of any such measure; 

15 (ii) reduced global competitiveness of 

16 goods and resources manufactured or pro17 duced in the United States as a result of 

18 any such measure; and 

19 (iii) leaked emissions, including new 

20 or increased lifecycle greenhouse gas emis21 sions that will occur outside of the United 

22 States, as a result of any such measure; 

23 (D) includes a specific timeline for imple24 menting the specific policy measures described 

25 in subparagraph (C) in a manner that such 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
12 

•HR 2578 IH

1 measures are fully implemented and in effect 

2 prior to, or simultaneously with, the implemen3 tation and effect of the measures described in 

4 subparagraph (B)(i) in order to effectively 

5 counteract any negative impacts on domestic 

6 jobs and manufacturing; 

7 (E) includes an analysis of the nationally 

8 determined contributions submitted with the re9 spect to the Paris Agreement by the Govern10 ment of the People’s Republic of China and the 

11 Government of the Russian Federation, the an12 ticipated effects on their respective domestic 

13 greenhouse gas emissions, and the anticipated 

14 effects on their respective global competitive15 ness; 

16 (F) describes how the United States na17 tionally determined contribution will impact the 

18 level of total global emissions, based on the 

19 most recent available global emissions data, and 

20 how the United States nationally determined 

21 contribution in the aggregate with the nation22 ally determined contributions of other countries 

23 submitted under the Paris Agreement will re24 sult in a reduction of global emissions below 

25 2005 levels by 2036 or by the date that is 15 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
13 

•HR 2578 IH

1 years after the submission of the United States 

2 nationally determined contribution, whichever 

3 occurs later; and 

4 (G) contains a determination of the Presi5 dent that the proposed action is in the national 

6 interest of the United States; and 

7 (2) during the 60-day period beginning on the 

8 date on which the report is submitted under para9 graph (1), a joint resolution of disapproval described 

10 in subsection (b) with respect to the proposed action 

11 is not enacted into law. 

12 (b) JOINT RESOLUTION OF DISAPPROVAL.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—In this subsection, the term 

14 ‘‘joint resolution of disapproval’’ means only a joint 

15 resolution of either House of Congress— 

16 (A) the title of which is as follows: ‘‘A joint 

17 resolution disapproving the action of the Presi18 dent to establish or revise the United States’ 

19 nationally determined contribution under the 

20 Paris Agreement.’’; and 

21 (B) the sole matter after the resolving 

22 clause of which is as follows: ‘‘Congress dis23 approves of the action of the President to estab24 lish or revise the United States’ nationally de25 termined contribution under the Paris AgreeVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:33 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2578.IH H2578

pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
14 

•HR 2578 IH

1 ment as proposed by the President in the report 

2 submitted to Congress under section 3(a)(1) of 

3 the Protecting American Resources, Innovation, 

4 and Sovereignty Act on ll relating to ll.’’, 

5 with the first blank space being filled with the 

6 appropriate date and the second blank space 

7 being filled with a short description of the pro8 posed action. 

9 (2) CONGRESSIONAL PROCEDURES.—A joint 

10 resolution of disapproval shall be considered in the 

11 House of Representatives and the Senate in accord12 ance with paragraphs (4) through (6) of section 

13 135(e) of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 

14 U.S.C. 2160e(e)). 

15 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

16 In this Act: 

17 (1) MAJOR EMITTER.—The term ‘‘major emit18 ter’’ means any country, or defined group of coun19 tries that share a common nationally determined 

20 contribution under the Paris Agreement, that ac21 counts for at least one percent of global greenhouse 

22 gas emissions based on most recent data as deter23 mined by the Department of State. 

24 (2) PARIS AGREEMENT.—The term ‘‘Paris 

25 Agreement’’ means the decision by the United NaVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:33 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2578.IH H2578

pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
15 

•HR 2578 IH

1 tions Framework Convention on Climate Change’s 

2 21st Conference of Parties in Paris, France, adopted 

3 December 12, 2015. 

Æ 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS