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 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.
Bill: H.R.395 | Sponsor: Rep. Foxx, Virginia (R-NC)
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Protecting American Resources, Innovation, and Sovereignty Act or the PARIS Act
This bill requires the President to submit a report to Congress prior to taking certain actions under the Paris Agreement, and it gives Congress the authority to block such actions. The bill also prohibits any legal cause of action in U.S. courts pursuant to the Paris Agreement.

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 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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may cited as the ``Protecting American Resources, 
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 demonstrate 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 Federal 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 consent of the Senate, including the United Nations 
Framework Convention on Climate Change.

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 Secretariat, 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 Government 
                        necessary to achieve the United States 
                        nationally determined contribution, including 
                        new or revised regulations, new or revised 
                        authorities that require congressional actions, 
                        and new or revised financial incentives; and
                            (ii) how the United States will use the 
                        Paris Agreement's transparency provisions to 
                        confirm that other parties to the Agreement, 
                        including all major emitters, are fulfilling 
                        their announced contributions to the Agreement;
                    (C) describes how the United States nationally 
                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 nationally determined contributions of other 
                countries submitted under the Paris Agreement will 
                result 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 subparagraph (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, includes specific policy measures that will 
                prevent--
                            (i) job displacement that would result as a 
                        result of any such measure;
                            (ii) reduced global competitiveness of 
                        goods and resources manufactured or produced in 
                        the United States as a result of any such 
                        measure; and
                            (iii) leaked emissions, including new or 
                        increased lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions 
                        that will occur outside of the United States, 
                        as a result of any such measure;
                    (E) includes a specific timeline for implementing 
                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 
                manufacturing will be negatively impacted by such 
                measures described in subparagraph (B)(i); and
                    (F) contains a determination of the President 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 paragraph (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 President to 
                establish or revise the United States nationally 
                determined contribution under the Paris Agreement.''; 
                and
                    (B) the sole matter after the resolving clause of 
                which is as follows: ``Congress disapproves of the 
                action of the President to establish or revise the 
                United States nationally determined contribution under 
                the Paris Agreement as proposed by the President in the 
                report submitted to Congress under section 3(a)(1) of 
                the Protecting American Resources, Innovation, and 
                Sovereignty Act on __ relating to __.'', with the first 
                blank space being filled with the appropriate date and 
                the second blank space being filled with a short 
                description of the proposed action.
            (2) Congressional procedures.--A joint resolution of 
        disapproval shall be considered in the House of Representatives 
        and the Senate in accordance 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 emitter'' means any 
        country, or defined group of countries that share a common 
        nationally determined contribution under the Paris Agreement, 
        that accounts for at least one percent of global greenhouse gas 
        emissions based on most recent data as determined by the 
        Department of State.
            (2) Paris agreement.--The term ``Paris Agreement'' means 
        the decision by the United Nations Framework Convention on 
        Climate Change's 21st Conference of Parties in Paris, France, 
        adopted December 12, 2015.
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