Politics

Amy Klobuchar’s First Act As President Would Be On Climate Change

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Democratic Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s first priority if elected president would be to rejoin the Paris climate accord from which President Donald Trump pledged to withdraw.

Klobuchar, one of 24 Democrats running for president in 2020, said tackling global warming would be a top policy priority in her first 100 days in the Oval Office.

“On day one of Senator Klobuchar’s presidency she will get us back into the International Climate Change Agreement, working so that the United States maintains global leadership to address the climate crisis,” Klobuchar’s campaign wrote in a Medium post published Tuesday.

Trump pledged to withdraw from the Paris accord, which the Obama administration joined in 2016 promising deep emissions cuts. However, the U.S. can’t leave the Paris agreement until late 2020.

Democratic presidential contenders support the Paris accord. Like most of her opponents, Klobuchar outlined plans to do even more than the Obama administration promised to address global warming.

“The urgent problems our country is facing require immediate action,” Klobuchar said in a statement Tuesday. “That’s why in my first 100 days as President I will enact an ambitious, optimistic agenda to improve our health care, combat climate change, pursue economic justice and shared prosperity, and build a stronger democracy and safer world.”

President Barack Obama pledged to cut U.S. emissions 26 to 28 percent by 2025, but the world’s biggest emitter, China, said it would try to “peak” its greenhouse gas emissions around 2030. India, the world’s third-largest emitter, made no pledge to cut emissions.

Trump cited the lopsided promises as justification for leaving the Paris accord. Democrats, however, want the U.S. to remain as a “leader” on global warming despite the fact that global emissions are expected to continue rising under the Paris accord.

Klobuchar’s campaign said the Minnesota Democrat would restore the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, fuel economy regulations and introduce “sweeping” legislation that “builds on the framework of the Green New Deal” — all within her first 100 days.

The Green New Deal, introduced by Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in February, calls for the U.S. to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions within 10 years while pumping trillions of dollars into green jobs and massive welfare programs.

One study estimated that, when added up, promises made in the Green New Deal could cost $93 trillion over a decade. The proposed climate plans of the Democratic candidates range anywhere from $2 trillion to $10 trillion in estimated costs.

“With these concrete steps, we will put our country back on a path of progress where people have an opportunity to get ahead,” Klobuchar said.

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