I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 395 
To ensure transparency with Congress and the American people by requiring 
that the President report to Congress on a nationally determined con-
tribution to the Paris Agreement prior to the submission of the nationally 
determined contribution to the United Nations Framework Convention 
on Climate Change Secretariat and to provide that nothing in the Paris 
Agreement may be used to establish or demonstrate the existence of 
a violation of United States law or an offense against the law of nations 
in United States courts, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 21, 2021 
Ms. FOXX (for herself and Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in ad-
dition to the Committee on Rules, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To ensure transparency with Congress and the American 
people by requiring that the President report to Congress 
on a nationally determined contribution to the Paris 
Agreement prior to the submission of the nationally de-
termined contribution to the United Nations Framework 
Convention on Climate Change Secretariat and to provide 
that nothing in the Paris Agreement may be used to 
establish or demonstrate the existence of a violation of 
United States law or an offense against the law of na-
tions in United States courts, and for other purposes. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may cited as the ‘‘Protecting American Re-
sources, Innovation, and Sovereignty Act’’ or ‘‘PARIS 
Act’’. 
SEC. 2. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION RELATING TO PARIS 
AGREEMENT. 
(a) RELATING TO PARIS AGREEMENT.—Nothing in 
the Paris Agreement may be used to establish or dem-
onstrate the existence of a violation of United States law 
or an offense against the law of nations in United States 
courts, including— 
(1) to establish standing, a cause of action, or 
a source of damages as a matter of law; or 
(2) to demonstrate whether an action by a Fed-
eral agency is arbitrary or capricious, an abuse of 
discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law. 
(b) RELATING TO THIS ACT.—Nothing in subsection 
(a) may be construed to modify or limit any obligation 
of the United States pursuant to an international treaty 
that was ratified by the President with the advice and con-
sent of the Senate, including the United Nations Frame-
work Convention on Climate Change. 
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SEC. 3. ACTIONS TO ESTABLISH OR REVISE UNITED STATES 
NATIONALLY DETERMINED CONTRIBUTION 
UNDER THE PARIS AGREEMENT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Any action to establish or revise 
the United States nationally determined contribution 
under the Paris Agreement shall have force and effect only 
if— 
(1) before the President submits the nationally 
determined contribution to the United Nations 
Framework Convention on Climate Change Secre-
tariat, the President submits to Congress a report 
that— 
(A) describes the proposed action; 
(B) includes a plan for the United States 
to meet its nationally determined contribution 
under the Paris Agreement that details— 
(i) a complete description of measures 
under the authority of the Federal Govern-
ment necessary to achieve the United 
States nationally determined contribution, 
including new or revised regulations, new 
or revised authorities that require congres-
sional actions, and new or revised financial 
incentives; and 
(ii) how the United States will use the 
Paris Agreement’s transparency provisions 
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to confirm that other parties to the Agree-
ment, including all major emitters, are ful-
filling their announced contributions to the 
Agreement; 
(C) describes how the United States na-
tionally determined contribution will impact the 
level of total global emissions, based on the 
most recent available global emissions data, and 
how the United States nationally determined 
contribution in the aggregate with the nation-
ally determined contributions of other countries 
submitted under the Paris Agreement will re-
sult in a reduction of global emissions below 
2005 levels by 2036 or by the date that is 15 
years after the submission of the United States 
nationally determined contribution, whichever 
occurs later; 
(D) if any measure described in subpara-
graph (B)(i) results in increased costs of energy 
produced or consumed in the United States or 
increased costs to manufacture or produce 
goods or resources in the United States, in-
cludes specific policy measures that will pre-
vent— 
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(i) job displacement that would result 
as a result of any such measure; 
(ii) reduced global competitiveness of 
goods and resources manufactured or pro-
duced in the United States as a result of 
any such measure; and 
(iii) leaked emissions, including new 
or increased lifecycle greenhouse gas emis-
sions that will occur outside of the United 
States, as a result of any such measure; 
(E) includes a specific timeline for imple-
menting the specific policy measures described 
in subparagraph (D) in a manner that such 
measures are fully implemented and in effect 
prior to or simultaneously with implementation 
and effectiveness of the measures described in 
subparagraph (B)(i) in order to ensure there is 
no period of time when domestic jobs and man-
ufacturing will be negatively impacted by such 
measures described in subparagraph (B)(i); and 
(F) contains a determination of the Presi-
dent that the proposed action is in the national 
interest of the United States; and 
(2) during the 60-day period beginning on the 
date on which the report is submitted under para-
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graph (1), a joint resolution of disapproval described 
in subsection (b) with respect to the proposed action 
is not enacted into law. 
(b) JOINT RESOLUTION OF DISAPPROVAL.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—In this subsection, the term 
‘‘joint resolution of disapproval’’ means only a joint 
resolution of either House of Congress— 
(A) the title of which is as follows: ‘‘A joint 
resolution disapproving the action of the Presi-
dent to establish or revise the United States na-
tionally determined contribution under the 
Paris Agreement.’’; and 
(B) the sole matter after the resolving 
clause of which is as follows: ‘‘Congress dis-
approves of the action of the President to estab-
lish or revise the United States nationally deter-
mined contribution under the Paris Agreement 
as proposed by the President in the report sub-
mitted to Congress under section 3(a)(1) of the 
Protecting American Resources, Innovation, 
and Sovereignty Act on ll relating to ll.’’, 
with the first blank space being filled with the 
appropriate date and the second blank space 
being filled with a short description of the pro-
posed action. 
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(2) CONGRESSIONAL
PROCEDURES.—A joint 
resolution of disapproval shall be considered in the 
House of Representatives and the Senate in accord-
ance with paragraphs (3) through (5) of section 
135(e) of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 
U.S.C. 2160e(e)). 
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) MAJOR EMITTER.—The term ‘‘major emit-
ter’’ means any country, or defined group of coun-
tries that share a common nationally determined 
contribution under the Paris Agreement, that ac-
counts for at least one percent of global greenhouse 
gas emissions based on most recent data as deter-
mined by the Department of State. 
(2) PARIS
AGREEMENT.—The term ‘‘Paris 
Agreement’’ means the decision by the United Na-
tions Framework Convention on Climate Change’s 
21st Conference of Parties in Paris, France, adopted 
December 12, 2015. 
Æ 
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