Title: 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.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Paris Transparency and Accountability Act
This bill restricts the President's authority to unilaterally establish or revise actions the United States plans to take to meet its obligations under the Paris Agreement (a climate change treaty adopted in 2015) and increases congressional oversight of those actions. The bill also prohibits any legal cause of action in U.S. courts pursuant to the Paris Agreement.
Specifically, the President must report to Congress before proposing new or revised actions under the agreement. The report must describe the proposed actions, including their impact on global emissions, and outline a detailed plan to address economic effects and related considerations of the actions. If a proposed action results in increased energy or manufacturing costs, the report must include specific policy measures (and timelines for implementing the measures) to prevent (1) job displacement, (2) reduced global competitiveness of U.S. goods, and (3) leaked emissions that may occur as a result of the proposed action.
After the President submits a report, the bill provides Congress with a 60-day period to review it. During the review period, Congress may block the actions proposed in the report by enacting a joint resolution of disapproval. The bill also outlines procedures for the introduction and consideration of this type of joint resolution.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2578 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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.

    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 ``Paris Transparency and Accountability 
Act''.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS THAT THE UNITED STATES SHOULD NOT REENTER THE 
              PARIS AGREEMENT ABSENT FURTHER NEGOTIATIONS AND ADVICE 
              AND CONSENT TO RATIFICATION OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) On May 9, 1992, the United States Senate provided its 
        advice and consent to ratification regarding the United Nations 
        Framework Convention on Climate Change (Framework Convention), 
        which entered into force on March 21, 1994.
            (2) The Framework Convention was ratified under the express 
        limitation that a decision by the Conference of the Parties to 
        adopt targets and timetables would have to be submitted to the 
        Senate for its advice and consent.
            (3) The Kyoto Protocol, completed at the 3d Conference of 
        the Parties (COP) to the Framework Convention in December 1997 
        in Kyoto, Japan, contains emissions targets and timetables, and 
        was signed by the Clinton Administration on behalf of the 
        United States but never submitted to the Senate for its advice 
        and consent to ratification.
            (4) The United Nations Climate Change website states: ``The 
        Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on 
        climate change.''. And yet this United Nations designated 
        ``legally binding international treaty'' has never been 
        submitted to the United States Senate for advice and consent as 
        required of treaties under article II, section 2 of the 
        Constitution.
            (5) The Paris Agreement and every article and clause 
        thereof was accepted by President Barack Obama on behalf of the 
        United States solely through executive action, rather than 
        submitted to the Senate for its advice and consent to 
        ratification.
            (6) Implementation of the Paris Agreement would serve as 
        justification for pursuing unilateral and punitive policies 
        harmful to United States economic competitiveness, including 
        significant job loss, increased energy and consumer costs, 
        risks to grid reliability, or any combination thereof.
            (7) When originally negotiating the Paris Agreement, 
        incoming Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry 
        stated, if . . . ``all the industrial nations went down to zero 
        emissions, it wouldn't be enough, not when more than 65 percent 
        of the world's carbon pollution comes from the developing 
        world''.
            (8) The Paris Agreement allows the People's Republic of 
        China, the world's second largest economy and largest emitter 
        of greenhouse gasses, to continue as a developing country, and 
        therefore justify energy and industrial policies that undermine 
        the economic and security interests of the United States and 
        its allies, and significantly increase emissions in the 
        foreseeable future.
            (9) The People's Republic of China is on track to increase 
        its emissions by roughly 50 percent by 2030, consistent with 
        the 2014 agreement with the Obama Administration and its pledge 
        under the Paris Agreement.
            (10) Since 2005 the People's Republic of China increased 
        emissions by four tons for every ton of emissions reduced by 
        the United States during the same period.
            (11) To protect the interests of the United States and its 
        citizens, prior to its submission to the United States Senate 
        for its advice and consent to ratification, the Paris Agreement 
        should be renegotiated or new agreement negotiated to ensure 
        the People's Republic of China reduces greenhouse gas emissions 
        at a pace and scale equivalent to that of the United States.
            (12) Through innovation and free market forces, the United 
        States has reduced its carbon dioxide emissions more than any 
        other country in the world, including the next 12 emissions-
        reducing countries combined over the past 15 years.
            (13) Between 1994 and 2018, global greenhouse gas emissions 
        grew significantly despite nearly a quarter century of 
        international climate agreements and in spite of the United 
        States, the European Union and other Organisation for Economic 
        Co-operation and Development (OECD) and G7 nations reducing 
        their emissions during the same time period.
            (14) The emissions reduction goals of the Paris Agreement 
        cannot be met without the development and global deployment of 
        affordable energy technologies, including storage, nuclear, and 
        clean fossil technologies, as well as commercial-scale carbon, 
        capture, utilization, and storage technologies.
            (15) American economic growth and prosperity is essential 
        to the development and deployment of these technologies to 
        address global energy security and reduction of global 
        emissions. Punitive policies such as taxes, mandates and 
        regulations that increase the cost of energy and American 
        manufacturing will divert resources from the innovation of 
        affordable technologies necessary to reduce global emissions.
            (16) Global competitors to exported American liquified 
        natural gas, such as Russian produced natural gas, have 
        lifecycle emissions up to 50 percent higher than American 
        exported liquified natural gas, and domestic policies such as 
        taxes, mandates, regulations or banning of the domestically 
        produced energy resource will result in higher global emissions 
        and run counter to the goals of international efforts to reduce 
        emissions all while hurting America's competitiveness, 
        security, and economic interests.
            (17) The United States withdrew from the Paris Agreement, 
        pursuant to the terms of the Agreement, which President Donald 
        J. Trump first announced on June 1, 2017, and took effect on 
        November 4, 2020.
            (18) On January 20, 2021, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 
        signed an Executive order providing for the United States to 
        reenter the Paris Agreement.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that the United 
States should not reenter the Paris Agreement and Congress should 
refuse to consider any budget resolutions and appropriations language 
that include funding for the Green Climate Fund or any affiliated body 
or financing mechanism--
            (1) until the Paris Agreement is renegotiated, or a new 
        agreement is reached, in a manner that would result in all 
        major emitters, including the People's Republic of China, 
        reducing their greenhouse gas emissions to levels comparable to 
        the United States; and
            (2) unless such agreement--
                    (A) is submitted to the United States Senate for 
                its advice and consent to ratification; and
                    (B) subsequently approved by the United States 
                Senate exercising its responsibilities under Article II 
                of the Constitution of the United States.

SEC. 3. 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. 4. 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 includes--
                            (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;
                            (ii) a description of 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;
                            (iii) a description of how the United 
                        States will utilize numerous energy sources, 
                        including nuclear, fossil fuel, and renewable 
                        technologies, to meet the nationally determined 
                        contribution;
                            (iv) a description of any impact on grid 
                        resilience and reliability that would result 
                        from policies necessary to meet the nationally 
                        determined contribution;
                            (v) a description of how the nationally 
                        determined contribution will promote the 
                        availability of diversified energy supplies and 
                        a well-functioning global market for energy 
                        resources, technologies, and expertise for the 
                        benefit of the United States and United States 
                        allies and trading partners;
                            (vi) a description of how the nationally 
                        determined contribution will support United 
                        States international efforts to alleviate 
                        energy poverty;
                            (vii) an analysis of the impact of 
                        increased costs of energy or vital household 
                        expenditures on low- or middle-income families, 
                        and any disproportionate or increased burden on 
                        such families, as a result of the nationally 
                        determined contribution;
                            (viii) a description of how the nationally 
                        determined contribution will support United 
                        States efforts to counter malign Chinese, 
                        Russian, and other adversarial influence and 
                        domination over energy supply chains; and
                            (ix) a description of how the nationally 
                        determined contribution will impact United 
                        States national security interests;
                    (C) includes, for any measure described in 
                subparagraph (B)(i) that could result 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, a description 
                of specific policy measures to 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;
                    (D) includes a specific timeline for implementing 
                the specific policy measures described in subparagraph 
                (C) in a manner that such measures are fully 
                implemented and in effect prior to, or simultaneously 
                with, the implementation and effect of the measures 
                described in subparagraph (B)(i) in order to 
                effectively counteract any negative impacts on domestic 
                jobs and manufacturing;
                    (E) includes an analysis of the nationally 
                determined contributions submitted with the respect to 
                the Paris Agreement by the Government of the People's 
                Republic of China and the Government of the Russian 
                Federation, the anticipated effects on their respective 
                domestic greenhouse gas emissions, and the anticipated 
                effects on their respective global competitiveness;
                    (F) 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; and
                    (G) 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 (4) through (6) of 
        section 135(e) of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 
        2160e(e)).

SEC. 5. 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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