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Biden to announce executive action on climate after failed effort in Congress
President Biden will lay out a set of executive actions on climate change, according to a White House official, as prospects for his agenda dwindle in Congress.
Politics
President Joe Biden on Wednesday will lay out a set of executive actions on climate change, according to a White House official, as prospects for his agenda dwindle in Congress.
Biden will deliver a speech at Brayton Point, a former coal-fired power plant in Somerset, Massachusetts, where he will announce actions that touch on the domestic offshore wind industry, home energy assistance for low-income residents and funding to protect communities facing extreme heat, the White House official told reporters on a call.
"The president will make clear tomorrow that climate change is an existential threat to our nation and to the world. And he will also make clear that since Congress is not going to act on this emergency, then he will," the official said. "In the coming days, he will continue to announce executive actions that we have developed to combat this emergency."
The rollout follows failed efforts to strike a deal on climate change in the Senate. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., recently rejected Democrats' plans to include climate provisions in a broader Biden agenda bill.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at Tuesday's press briefing that Biden would announce climate actions on Wednesday, but added that she "wouldn’t expect an announcement this week" on the president declaring a climate emergency, even as many Democrats grow frustrated over stalled legislation and the president's response.
"He’s not going to just stop with the actions of tomorrow," Jean-Pierre said. "Everything is on the table."