Andy Biggs: “I thank Mr. Gosar, and I appreciate his leading the Western Caucus Special Order hour of the day and all that he does…”

“I thank Mr. Gosar, and I appreciate his leading the Western Caucus Special Order hour of the day and all that he does, and the members of the Western Caucus, on these issues. President Obama attempted to implement the Paris Agreement domestically through an executive order he issued in September 2016, but the Paris Agreement was never ratified by the United States Senate as is constitutionally required for a treaty to exist and, therefore, is not a legally binding treaty. In June 2017, President Trump announced that the U.S. would cease all participation in the 2015 Paris Agreement, which is fully in its power to decide because, again, U.S. involvement is not legally binding. I applauded that decision then; I continue to applaud it now, and this is one of the reasons why. This Paris accord has little efficacy. It will not save the world. Even if we take at face value the assumption that climate change poses an existential threat to the planet, U.S. compliance with the Paris Agreement, or even a full embrace of a far more expansive Green New Deal, would do little to avert that result. The U.S. is no longer the primary source of global CO<INF>2</INF> emissions. In fact, between 2005 and 2017, our Nation has reduced CO<INF>2</INF> emissions by 862 million tons, and market forces are increasingly pushing us toward using cleaner and more efficient fuels.…”