CCL And The Climate Action Now Act

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 9, which would "direct the President to develop a plan for the United States to meet its nationally determined contribution under the Paris Agreement, and for other purposes." The vote was 231 to 190.

CCL issued this statement of support:

"Citizens’ Climate Lobby supports H.R. 9, Climate  Action Now Act, which would keep the United States in the Paris Climate Agreement and directs the administration to develop a plan to meet the emissions reductions within it. While we know that emissions reductions are needed beyond what was laid out in the Paris Agreement, CCL supports staying at the table and regaining our leadership on the world stage. With impacts from climate change being felt here and now across the U.S., our commitment to lowering emissions reductions should not be a partisan issue."

Three Republicans -- Brian Fitzpatrick, Elise Stefanik and Vern Buchanan -- voted in favor of H.R. 9. While it seems disappointing that more Republicans did not vote "yes," there was never an expectation that many Republicans would back the measure.

"The way the bill was written, it wasn't designed to attract much Republican support," Mark Reynolds told group leaders on a call Tuesday evening.

Stephanie Doyle, Director of National Outreach and Partnership, elaborates:

"This was a Democratic leadership messaging bill, and because Paris is such a lightning rod for Republicans, there wasn't much chance of getting more than a few on. Because it was so Paris specific, that didn't give Republicans much room to disagree with Trump."

On the positive side, Stephanie worked with several organizations that lobbied for the bill, and that created much good will with several of our allies.

Also, Congressman Buchanan, who represents a Gulf Coast district in Florida, tweeted about voting in favor of H.R. 9. After we posted his tweet in CCL's Social Media Action Team, lots of CCLers replied to Buchanan's tweet with messages of appreciation. And it didn’t take long for a CCL volunteer in his district to get a letter in the Sarasota newspaper acknowledging Buchanan’s vote on H.R. 9.