Senator Markey is co-author of only comprehensive climate change legislation to pass a chamber of Congress
Boston (May 31, 2017) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) released the following statement today after media reports that President Donald Trump will withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement. U.S. leadership was key to crafting the agreement that commits the nations of the world to all doing their fair share to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support climate-smart economic development.
Senator Markey is a member of the Foreign Relations Committee; Environment and Public Works Committee; and Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, and is Chair of the Senate Climate Clearinghouse.
“Instead of keeping our promise to the world, Donald Trump would rather join Syria’s Bashir al-Assad and Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega as the world leaders who refuse to participate in the Paris climate agreement. Keeping an empty campaign promise is not more important than keeping our promise to the world to combat climate change. Withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement will be a massive economic, security and moral failure for President Trump and his administration.
“Our ‘can do’ spirit is what makes America great, but President Trump is telling the world that the United States is now a can’t do nation.
“By succumbing to pressure from Administrator Scott Pruitt and other advisors, President Trump is ceding the future to the Germans, the Chinese, the Indians, and other nations rather than having the United States continue to lead the world on clean energy solutions. By creating the clean energy technologies here at home and then deploying them around the world, we can have job creation that is good for all creation. And pulling out of the agreement would make avoiding the worst impacts of climate change that much harder, increasing the risk of more storms, sea rise and natural disasters at home and abroad and the national security threats that come with them.
“President Trump says we can’t meet this general challenge of climate change, even though the private sector says we can. It is downright un-American for a President to abdicate United States leadership to the great challenges facing our planet. History will judge Donald Trump harshly for failing to meet this generation’s great planetary challenge.”
###
