Democrats Look to Declare National Emergency over Climate Change, Not a ‘Fake Crisis’

Rep. Earl Blumenauer plans an emergency resolution on global warming in response to Trump’s action over a border wall.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) swung back at President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency on Friday over a border wall by announcing plans to introduce a similar resolution for a crisis that scientists around the world warn we are running out of time to address ― climate change.

“If Trump can call a national emergency for a fake crisis at the border, then surely Congress should call a national emergency for a REAL crisis,” Blumenauer said in a statement. 

During a press conference on Friday, Trump admitted that the situation along the U.S.-Mexico border did not warrant such a declaration.  “I didn’t need to do this, but I’d rather do it much faster,” he said.

In a related letter to congressional colleagues, Blumenauer called Trump’s decision “profoundly disturbing” and urged them to join him in co-sponsoring his emergency resolution on climate change. 

“What our country should be doing right now is focusing on addressing a real national emergency and one of the most pressing issues of our time:  the climate crisis,” Blumenauer wrote.  “If Donald Trump wants to start declaring national emergencies for fake crises, Congress should address the real ones, starting with climate change.”

With his controversial decision, Trump may have opened the door to a broader use of emergency declarations. 

“We should do something about the actual emergencies that plague our nation — like climate change or health care access — not playing politics in order to build a wasteful border wall,” Sen. Kamala Harris (Calif.), one of several Democratic presidential candidates, tweeted on Friday.

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