Two Democratic senators have introduced legislation to repeal President Donald Trump’s declaration of a “national energy emergency” that they say prioritizes an unmitigated expansion of fossil fuels at the expense of a renewable energy future.
Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine of Virginia and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico introduced a privileged joint resolution Monday that would terminate the energy emergency Trump declared as part of his Day 1 executive orders. The lawmakers say the measure’s privileged status means the Senate has to schedule a vote in the coming weeks.
“While Donald Trump focuses on repaying the corporate polluter executives who donated to his campaign, it is the American people who will pay the price of his sham ‘energy emergency,'” said Heinrich, the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
“His autocratic and unlawful attacks on clean energy investments will kill American jobs, raise costs on families, weaken our economic competitiveness, and erode American global energy dominance,” the senator said.