February, 23 2022, 08:43am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Jean Su, Center for Biological Diversity: jsu@biologicaldiversity.org
Hunter Spence, Office of Rep. Earl Blumenauer: Hunter.Spence@mail.house.gov
Martina McLennan, Office of Sen. Jeff Merkley: MerkleyPressOffice@merkley.
Report Details Key Powers Biden Can Unlock With National Climate Emergency, Echoes Congressional Calls for Declaration
President Could Ban Oil Exports, Boost Renewables Manufacturing, Halt Offshore Drilling
WASHINGTON
The Center for Biological Diversity released a groundbreaking report today outlining the suite of specific powers that President Biden could unlock to fight the climate crisis by declaring a national climate emergency.
Today's report outlines key climate steps the president could take under the National Emergencies Act, the Defense Production Act and the Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act. Declaring a national emergency would allow the president to halt crude oil exports, stop offshore oil and gas drilling, restrict international fossil fuel investment and rapidly manufacture and distribute renewable energy systems.
"Declaring a climate emergency isn't a catch phrase, it's a vital suite of actions to protect people and the planet from this crisis," said Jean Su, director of the Center's energy justice program and co-author of the report. "In the face of delayed climate legislation, President Biden should use his tremendous executive powers to turn this emergency into an opportunity for profound economic and social transformation."
In February 2021, Rep. Earl Blumenauer, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced the National Climate Emergency Act, which would require the president to invoke his authorities under the National Emergency Act. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Jeff Merkley also made public calls for a national emergency declaration from President Biden.
"We are in the midst of a climate emergency -- it is here and it is costing millions of lives and livelihoods," said Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.). "The impacts of climate chaos are affecting us all, with devastating fire seasons, increased heat-related deaths and illnesses, and more powerful and deadly storms. Climate chaos is undermining the pillars of rural economies -- farming, forests and fishing. And many of the impacts are felt disproportionately by poor communities and communities of color. Since this is a devastating emergency, the right and appropriate action is for the Biden administration to treat it as such and declare a climate emergency to unlock the powers of government to respond boldly and effectively."
"The scientists, experts and all of our own lived experiences in the past few years make it clear: this is a climate emergency and it is past time to take action," said Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), author of the Climate Emergency Act. "I worked closely with the environmental community, Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Sanders to introduce climate emergency legislation that would unleash every resource at our disposal to halt, reverse, mitigate and prepare for the consequences of this climate crisis. President Biden has worked to prioritize climate in the first year of his administration, but after years of practiced ignorance during the last administration and from congressional Republicans, more work remains to be done. This report, and my bill, chart the course."
BACKGROUND
More than 50 lawmakers and more than 1,000 national groups support the call for a national climate emergency as part of the Climate President Action Plan and Build Back Fossil Free coalition. In October, thousands of people joined demonstrations at the White House demanding that Biden declare a climate emergency and reject fossil fuel projects.
Community leaders with Build Back Fossil Free are now calling on the administration to use the upcoming State of the Union on March 1 to lay out a bold new climate agenda that includes declaring a climate emergency.
Since the passage of the National Emergencies Act in 1976, every president has used these emergency powers and declared at least one national emergency. Presidents routinely employed the Stafford Act and Defense Production Act to address disasters. For example, President Biden has used the Defense Production Act to address medical supply shortages in the COVID-19 crisis.
At the Center for Biological Diversity, we believe that the welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature — to the existence in our world of a vast diversity of wild animals and plants. Because diversity has intrinsic value, and because its loss impoverishes society, we work to secure a future for all species, great and small, hovering on the brink of extinction. We do so through science, law and creative media, with a focus on protecting the lands, waters and climate that species need to survive.
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Warren Bill Would Stop Companies From Placing Shareholder Paydays Over Worker Rights
"Following the most lucrative election in history for special interests," said the senator, "my bill will empower workers to hold corporations to responsible decisions that benefit more than just shareholders."
Dec 11, 2024
Aiming to confront "a root cause of many of America's fundamental economic problems," U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday unveiled a bill to require corporations to balance growth with fair treatment of their employees and consumers.
The Massachusetts Democrat introduced the Accountable Capitalism Act, explaining that for much of U.S. history, corporations reinvested more than half of their profits back into their companies, working in the interest of employees, customers, business partners, and shareholders.
In the 1980s, said Warren corporations began placing the latter group above all, adopting "the belief that their only legitimate and legal purpose was 'maximizing shareholder value.'"
That view was further cemented in 1997 when the Business Roundtable, a lobbying group that represents chief executives across the country, declared that the "principal objective of a business enterprise is to generate economic returns to its owners."
Now, Warren said in a policy document, "around 93% of American-held corporate shares are owned by just 10% of our nation's richest households, while more than 40% of American households hold no shares at all."
"This means that corporate America's commitment to 'maximizing shareholder return' is a commitment to making the rich even richer, while leaving workers and families behind," said Warren in a statement.
The Accountable Capitalism Act would require:
- Corporations with more than $1 billion in annual revenue to obtain a federal charter as a "United States corporation," obligating executives to consider the interests of all stakeholders, not just investors;
- Corporate political spending to be approved by at least 75% of a company's shareholders and 75% of its board of directors; and
- At least 40% of a company's board of directors to be selected by employees.
The bill would also prohibit directors of U.S. corporations from selling company shares within five years of receiving them or within three years of a company stock buyback.
Warren noted that as companies have increasingly poured their profits into stock buybacks to benefit shareholders, worker productivity has steadily increased while real wages have gone up only slightly. The share of national income that goes to workers has also significantly dropped.
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The senator highlighted that big business interests invested heavily in November's U.S. presidential election.
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In a move likely fraught with major implications for worker rights during the impending second administration of Republican President-elect Donald Trump, Democratic-turned-Independent U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema on Wednesday blocked Democrat Lauren McFerran's bid for a second term on the National Labor Relations Board.
With every Republican senator except Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas voting against President Joe Biden's nomination of McFerran for a new five-year term, the fate of the woman who has led the agency since 2021 was up to Manchin and Sinema—who, as More Perfect Union founder and executive director Faiz Shakir put it on social media, "consistently spoiled the story of 'what could have been'" by years of fighting to thwart their own former party's agenda.
Sinema struck first, her "no" vote on McFerran grinding the confirmation tally to a 49-49 tie. Manchin, who showed up later, cast the decisive vote, negating speculation that Vice President Kamala Harris, the Senate president who lost the presidential contest to Trump last month, would break the stalemate.
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Chris Jackson, a former Democratic Lawrence County, Tennessee commissioner and longtime labor advocate, called Manchin and Sinema's votes "a crushing blow to the labor agenda."
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Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA union, said on social media that while "Manchin and Sinema are responsible for killing voting rights, worker rights, women's rights, LGBTQ rights, childcare, vision, and dental for seniors, and an economy built for the people," the two obstructionist senators "are not the story."
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Trump's first term saw relentless attacks on workers' rights. Critics fear a second Trump administration—whose officials and agenda are steeped in the anti-worker Project 2025—will roll back gains achieved under Biden and work to weaken the right to organize, water down workplace health and safety rules, and strip overtime pay, to name but a handful of GOP wish-list items.
The latest votes by Manchin and Sinema—who are both leaving Congress after this term—sparked widespread outrage among workers' rights defenders on social media, with one account on X, formerly known as Twitter, posting: "Manchin is geriatric and Sinema has a long fruitful career ahead of her in a consulting firm that advocates child slave labor, but at least they kicked the working class in the teeth one last time. Nothing to do now but hope there's a hell."
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Praise for Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan continued to pour in on Wednesday after a pair of judges blocked the merger of grocery chains Kroger and Albertsons following challenges by the FTC and state attorneys general.
"The proposed Kroger-Albertsons merger would have led to higher prices at the grocery store and harmed workers," said U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders. "Let me thank FTC Chair Lina Khan for successfully fighting this merger and standing up to corporate greed."
Congressman Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) also welcomed the rulings and sent "a big thank you to Lina Khan and her team at the FTC."
Their comments on Wednesday followed similar applause from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal as well as groups including the American Economic Liberties Project (AELP) and Groundwork Collaborative.
Khan addressed the win during a Tuesday stream with political commentator Hasan Piker, noting that "this is the first time that the FTC has ever sought to block a merger not just because it's gonna be bad for consumers, but also because it's gonna be bad for workers."
Khan, an appointee of outgoing Democratic President Joe Biden, has won praise from progressives for taking on not only grocery giants and other companies trying to build monopolies but also Big Pharma and Big Tech.
Sanders recently called her "the best FTC chair in modern history" and AELP earlier this year published a document detailing how, under Khan's leadership, the agency "has entered a new era of more effective, modern, and democratic enforcement to better protect consumers, workers, and independent businesses."
Examples included in the AELP roundup include Khan's "crackdown on deceptive 'junk fees,'" a ban on noncompete clauses that's being challenged in court, a historic lawsuit against Amazon.com, and a "click-to-cancel" rule that requires sellers to "make it as easy for consumers to cancel their enrollment as it was to sign up."
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