News/Commentary

Biden mulls declaring a ‘climate emergency,’ taking page out of COVID-19 playbook

July 20, 2022 | | Print Article

President Joe Biden has been facing renewed pressure to declare a climate emergency, and conservatives worry that, with such power at his disposal, the president could take over the American people’s lives all over again, but even worse this time.

“If Biden declares a #ClimateEmergency, it will be the next COVID. Everything’s been set up for Biden to bypass Congress and take unconstitutional power over your lives and businesses,” conservative radio show host Glenn Beck explained in a tweet.

He’s not alone in issuing this warning.

Look:

Recall that during the height of the COVID pandemic, left-wing governors used emergency powers to force unconstitutional diktats on their constituents, ranging from workplace vaccine mandates to orders that certain businesses stay closed.

Posted Tuesday afternoon, Beck’s tweet came amid emerging reports that the president is being pressured by Democrats and far-left activists alike to declare a climate change emergency.

“In the wake of Sen. Joe Manchin’s announcement that he won’t vote for a bill addressing climate change unless inflation slows next month, climate leaders are calling for President Biden to declare climate change a national emergency,” Yahoo News reported.

The outlet added that by declaring an emergency, the president could unilaterally halt U.S. exports of crude oil and offshore drilling, as just two examples. He could also “redirect military funding to the construction of renewable energy projects.”

The good news is that for now, the president is not declaring a climate emergency. The bad news is that the president may eventually declare one if his other suite of options don’t prove fruitful.

“The White House said Tuesday it has not ruled out issuing such a declaration later, which would allow the president to reroute funds to climate efforts without congressional approval,” the Associated Press reported.

“On Wednesday, Biden will announce other new climate actions when he visits a former coal-fired power plant in Somerset, Massachusetts, which shuttered in 2017 but has since been reborn as an offshore wind power facility,” the AP added.

Knowing the president, his climate change proposals will undoubtedly mean higher gas prices for everybody. Now just imagine how much higher they’d climb if he declared a climate emergency and went full throttle on this pet project.

Congressional Republicans argue for their part that the president lacks the authority to declare a climate emergency.

“I don’t believe he has the power to declare a climate emergency. I don’t think there’s such a thing as a climate emergency. There are weather emergencies, we know what those are. There’s not a climate emergency,” Sen. Kevin Cramer told The Washington Times.

Democrats have been calling for the president to declare a climate emergency since the day he took office. Republicans have likewise been doing their best to avert such a catastrophe.

In April, Kramer and Senate Environment and Public Works ranking member Shelley Moore Capito introduced a bill “to clarify President Biden cannot use climate change as the premise to declare a national emergency.”

“Right now, Americans are paying astronomical rates at the pump—with our country having already surpassed the highest recorded average gas price ever. Instead of addressing this problem head on and promoting policies that encourage American energy independence, President Biden and his administration would rather ignore these problems,” Capito said at the time.

“In the meantime, they are coordinating with extreme environmental groups behind the scenes to lay the groundwork to implement the administration’s zealous climate agenda by declaring a ‘national climate emergency.’ Our legislation would ensure the president cannot use made-up powers to circumvent Congress and govern by executive overreach.”

The media meanwhile are all in on the idea of the president declaring a climate emergency. Never mind all the criticism they’d lodged at former President Donald Trump for declaring a border crisis emergency.

Incidentally, the border has once again been overrun, but neither the president, congressional Democrats, nor their media allies care.

To them, all that matters is that the Earth’s gradually rising temperature may one day make Earth uninhabitable hundreds of years from now.

And that, of course, is assuming humans don’t simply adapt to the changing climate with innovation and technology …

Vivek Saxena
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