Biden preparing executive action on climate after Manchin sinks legislative approach

By Betsy Klein, CNN

The White House is preparing a plan to take executive action on climate after Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin last week torpedoed his party’s efforts on sweeping legislation.

President Joe Biden said last week that he would take “strong executive action” on climate, but did not provide details on what kinds of action he would take. Officials have repeatedly declined to put a timeline on when to expect any announcements but have suggested there is urgency to get something done soon.

Asked by CNN whether the President is considering declaring a national emergency on climate, as reported by The Washington Post, a White House official tells CNN that as of Tuesday morning, all options remain on the table and no decision has been made on the matter.

“The President made clear that if the Senate doesn’t act to tackle the climate crisis and strengthen our domestic clean energy industry, he will. We are considering all options and no decision has been made,” the official said.

A national emergency declaration would give the Biden administration broader latitude to take action and use government resources to tackle climate-related issues, including funding mitigation efforts and strengthening regulations.

An executive action would answer urgent calls from many progressives for Biden to act in the wake of last week’s legislative setback, though Biden is limited in his ability to effect meaningful change, especially after the Supreme Court last month curtailed the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate carbon emissions from existing power plants.

And any executive actions by Biden could be swiftly reversed by a future Republican president.

Still, White House officials have pointed to the upcoming executive action to demonstrate Biden’s commitment to the climate crisis.

“(Biden) intends to move forward with both the speed and the scale that this challenge reflects,” White House economic adviser Brian Deese said during an appearance on CNN’s “New Day” Monday.

And economic adviser Jared Bernstein told CNN’s Dana Bash Sunday, “If he can’t find a legislative path to clean energy, the urgency of the problem is so significant that, as he said on Friday, he will find an executive order and rule change path to get there.”

Bernstein previewed options that Biden has already taken on climate change that could be reinforced with forthcoming actions.

“He’s already found that path. He’ll continue down it. He has invoked the Defense Production Act to ramp up clean energy production in this country. He has helped to kickstart the offshore wind industry. He has set the toughest-ever emission standards. He will continue to pursue that with or without Congress,” he said.

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