I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 9 

To direct the President to develop a plan for the United States to meet 

its nationally determined contribution under the Paris Agreement, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 27, 2019 

Ms. CASTOR of Florida (for herself, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. HOYER, Mr. PALLONE, 

Mr. ENGEL, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. NEAL, Mr. 

MCGOVERN, Mr. NADLER, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Ms. BONAMICI, 

Mr. LEVIN of California, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. MCEACHIN, Mr. NEGUSE, 

Mr. CASTEN of Illinois, Mr. LUJA ́N, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. SCHNEIDER, Mr. 

BEYER, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Ms. PORTER, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. 

SOTO, Mr. GALLEGO, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Mr. 

MALINOWSKI, Mr. CISNEROS, Mr. CRIST, Ms. NORTON, Ms. MATSUI, Mr. 

ROUDA, Ms. MUCARSEL-POWELL, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. COHEN, Mr. PANETTA, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mr. COURTNEY, Ms. FRANKEL, Mr. CUMMINGS, 

Mr. WELCH, Ms. BARRAGA ́N, Mr. VAN DREW, Mr. HIGGINS of New 

York, Mr. TONKO, Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. THOMPSON of 

California, Mr. JEFFRIES, Mr. KILMER, Ms. SPANBERGER, Ms. BLUNT

ROCHESTER, Mr. ROSE of New York, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mrs. DAVIS of 

California, Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. LARSEN of 

Washington, Mr. MCNERNEY, Ms. DEAN, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. 

LEVIN of Michigan, Mrs. TRAHAN, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. LYNCH, Ms. 

HAALAND, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Ms. DEGETTE, Ms. SCHRIER, and Ms. KUSTER of New 

Hampshire) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Energy 

and Commerce, 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 direct the President to develop a plan for the United 


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States to meet its nationally determined contribution 

under the Paris 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Climate Action Now 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) In Paris, on December 12, 2015, parties to 

9 the United Nations Framework Convention on Cli10 mate Change (UNFCCC) reached a landmark agree11 ment to combat climate change and to accelerate 

12 and intensify the actions and investments needed for 

13 a sustainable low carbon future. 

14 (2) The Paris Agreement’s central aim is to 

15 strengthen the global response to the threat of cli16 mate change by keeping a global temperature rise 

17 well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial lev18 els and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature in19 crease even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius. 

20 (3) The Paris Agreement requires all parties to 

21 put forward their best efforts through nationally de22 termined contributions (NDCs) and to strengthen 

23 these efforts in the years ahead. 


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1 (4) The Paris Agreement further requires each 

2 party to update its nationally determined contribu3 tion every 5 years, with each successive nationally 

4 determined contribution representing a progression 

5 beyond the previous nationally determined contribu6 tion, and reflecting the party’s highest possible am7 bition. 

8 (5) The United States communicated its nation9 ally determined contribution to achieve an economy10 wide target of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions 

11 by 26 to 28 percent below its 2005 level in 2025 and 

12 to make best efforts to reduce its emissions by 28 

13 percent. 

14 (6) A number of existing laws, regulations, and 

15 other mandatory measures in the United States are 

16 relevant to achieving this target, including the Clean 

17 Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.), the Energy Policy 

18 Act of 1992 (Public Law 102–486), and the Energy 

19 Independence and Security Act of 2007 (Public Law 

20 110–140). 

21 (7) On June 1, 2017, President Trump an22 nounced his intention to withdraw the United States 

23 from the Paris Agreement, which would leave the 

24 United States as the only UNFCCC member state 

25 that is not a signatory to the Paris Agreement. 


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1 (8) Under the terms of the Paris Agreement, 

2 the earliest possible effective withdrawal date by the 

3 United States is November 4, 2020. However, the 

4 United States is still obligated to maintain certain 

5 commitments under the Paris Agreement, such as 

6 continuing to report its emissions to the United Na7 tions. 

8 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON USE OF FUNDS TO ADVANCE THE 

9 WITHDRAWAL OF THE UNITED STATES FROM 

10 THE PARIS AGREEMENT. 

11 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no funds 

12 are authorized to be appropriated, obligated, or expended 

13 to take any action to advance the withdrawal of the United 

14 States from the Paris Agreement. 

15 SEC. 4. PLAN FOR THE UNITED STATES TO MEET ITS NA16 TIONALLY DETERMINED CONTRIBUTION 

17 UNDER THE PARIS AGREEMENT. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days after the 

19 date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall de20 velop and submit to the appropriate congressional commit21 tees and make available to the public a plan for the United 

22 States to meet its nationally determined contribution 

23 under the Paris Agreement that describes— 

24 (1) how the United States will achieve an econ25 omy-wide target of reducing its greenhouse gas 


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1 emissions by 26 to 28 percent below its 2005 level 

2 by 2025; and 

3 (2) how the United States will use the Paris 

4 Agreement’s transparency provisions to confirm that 

5 other parties to the Agreement with major econo6 mies are fulfilling their announced contributions to 

7 the Agreement. 

8 (b) UPDATES TO PLAN.—Not later than one year 

9 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually 

10 thereafter, the President shall submit to the appropriate 

11 congressional committees and make available to the public 

12 an updated plan under subsection (a). 

13 (c) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DE14 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congres15 sional committees’’ means— 

16 (1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 

17 Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House 

18 of Representatives; and 

19 (2) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the 

20 Committee on Environment and Public Works, and 

21 the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of 

22 the Senate. 

23 SEC. 5. PARIS AGREEMENT DEFINED. 

24 In this Act, the term ‘‘Paris Agreement’’ means the 

25 decision by the United Nations Framework Convention on 


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1 Climate Change’s 21st Conference of Parties in Paris, 

2 France, adopted December 12, 2015. 

Æ 


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