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Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021

Could President Biden use emergency powers to address climate change?

Lisa Freedland, Gigafact
yes

Policy advocates are urging President Biden to invoke his office’s emergency powers to enact climate policies rapidly, ahead of legislative and regulatory processes. The president holds broad authority to declare a “national emergency,” which permits use of 136 emergency powers under various statutes.

A letter co-signed by 380 organizations outlines how Biden could use those powers to prohibit oil exports for a year, direct loans and agency resources to clean-energy developers and use military funds to build clean-energy infrastructure, among other measures.

In 2019, President Trump diverted funds to border-wall projects after declaring illegal crossings a national emergency, a move that was affirmed by the Supreme Court. Emergency powers can be “misused as convenient fixes to non-emergency problems,” a Brennan Center review notes, and overuse could undermine the balance of powers.

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