President Joe Biden will take executive action in response to centrist Sen. Joe Manchin‘s blocking of the climate provision in the Democrat’s budget bill last week.
While the White House and Biden have made it clear that he will take action, it is unclear what exactly that will look like or when it will be carried out.
“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,” a White House official told CNN on Tuesday morning.
Two Democratic senators, Jeff Merkley (Oregon) and Sheldon Whitehouse (Rhode Island) called on Biden to use “the full powers of the executive branch” on Monday.
Biden could potentially declare a national emergency on climate, which would give the president more authority to use federal resources. It would also allow him to limit oil and gas drilling in federal waters and stop crude oil exports. Any of these actions, however, would be limited by last month’s Supreme Court decision to limit the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate power plants’ carbon emissions.
Biden is expected to outline his plans on Wednesday in a speech in Somerset, Massachusetts.
“The president will deliver remarks on tackling the climate crisis and seizing the opportunity of a clean energy future to create jobs and lower costs for families,” a White House statement read.
