•HRES 125 IH 
Whereas the declaration of a national emergency for purposes 
of addressing a so-called climate crisis would fall outside 
the bounds of an emergency as contemplated by the 
NEA; 
Whereas the late Edward S. Corwin, an eminent constitu-
tional scholar, explained emergency conditions as being 
those that ‘‘have not attained enough of stability or re-
currency to admit of their being dealt with according to 
rule’’; 
Whereas if there were to declare a climate national emer-
gency, President Biden would undeniably break his 
pledge to ‘‘be a president for all Americans, all Ameri-
cans’’ and that he would ‘‘fight as hard for those who did 
not support me as those who did’’; 
Whereas, as a candidate, President Biden noted that the 
President ‘‘can’t [legislate] by executive order unless 
you‘re a dictator. We’re a democracy. We need con-
sensus.’’; 
Whereas President Biden has already undertaken a plethora 
of executive actions that would directly reverse or under-
mine important and commonsense deregulatory actions of 
the Trump administration, including that Biden has or-
dered the United States to rejoin the Paris Agreement, 
begun the process of reversing President Trump’s Waters 
of the United States Rule, shuttered the Keystone XL 
Pipeline project, and halted energy production activities 
in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; 
Whereas a climate national emergency, and actions taken 
pursuant thereto, would magnify his environment agenda 
that is littered with policies that would drive up consumer 
costs, produce job losses, drive up Federal deficits, in-
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•HRES 125 IH 
crease dependence on oil from foreign countries, and gen-
erally disadvantage the United States with nations such 
as Saudi Arabia and Mexico, as well as adversaries such 
as China, Russia, Iran, and Venezuela; 
Whereas according to the Brennan Center for Justice, 
‘‘Emergency powers cover almost every imaginable sub-
ject area, including the military, land use, public health, 
trade, federal pay schedules, agriculture, transportation, 
communications, and criminal law’’ and the Brennan 
Center has identified 136 statutory provisions available 
during national emergencies; 
Whereas the myriad of ways in which Biden could seek to 
carry out his expansive climate agenda cannot be pre-
dicted with certainty; 
Whereas President Biden’s climate agenda includes broad, 
far-reaching policy proposals that extend far past the 
acute, severe emergencies envisioned under the National 
Emergencies Act, such as a commitment to end the use 
of all fossil fuels by 2050, decarbonizing the food and ag-
riculture sectors, and unprecedented Federal spending on 
clean energy research and innovation; 
Whereas President Biden would be broadly empowered to as-
sert Federal control in domestic and international eco-
nomic matters with no guardrails clearly defining the pa-
rameters of the emergency; and 
Whereas the United States of America has already reduced 
CO2 emissions to a 20-year low: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) opposes use of the National Emergencies 
Act to declare a so-called ‘‘climate emergency’’; 
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•HRES 125 IH 
(2) recognizes that any policy-making action 
taken to address global climate conditions should be 
undertaken by the legislative branch, not through 
unilateral executive action; 
(3) recognizes that addressing global climate 
conditions through the National Emergencies Act 
would violate the purpose of the Act as well as sepa-
ration of powers; and 
(4) opposes executive actions that would in-
crease the United States dependence on foreign oil, 
deprive Americans of jobs, increase consumer costs, 
or disadvantage the United States relative to adver-
sarial nations such as Russia and China. 
Æ 
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