To ensure transparency with Congress and the American people by requiring that the President report to Congress on a nationally determined contribution to the Paris Agreement prior to the submission of the nationally determined contribution to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat and to provide that nothing in the Paris Agreement may be used to establish or demonstrate the existence of a violation of United States law or an offense against the law of nations in United States courts, and for other purposes.

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 395 To ensure transparency with Congress and the American people by requiring that the President report to Congress on a nationally determined con- tribution to the Paris Agreement prior to the submission of the nationally determined contribution to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat and to provide that nothing in the Paris Agreement may be used to establish or demonstrate the existence of a violation of United States law or an offense against the law of nations in United States courts, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 21, 2021 Ms. FOXX (for herself and Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in ad- dition to the Committee on Rules, for a period to be subsequently deter- mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To ensure transparency with Congress and the American people by requiring that the President report to Congress on a nationally determined contribution to the Paris Agreement prior to the submission of the nationally de- termined contribution to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat and to provide that nothing in the Paris Agreement may be used to establish or demonstrate the existence of a violation of United States law or an offense against the law of na- tions in United States courts, and for other purposes. VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 Mar 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H395.IH H395 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 395 IH Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may cited as the ‘‘Protecting American Re- 4 sources, Innovation, and Sovereignty Act’’ or ‘‘PARIS 5 Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION RELATING TO PARIS 7 AGREEMENT. 8 (a) RELATING TO PARIS AGREEMENT.—Nothing in 9 the Paris Agreement may be used to establish or dem- 10 onstrate the existence of a violation of United States law 11 or an offense against the law of nations in United States 12 courts, including— 13 (1) to establish standing, a cause of action, or 14 a source of damages as a matter of law; or 15 (2) to demonstrate whether an action by a Fed- 16 eral agency is arbitrary or capricious, an abuse of 17 discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law. 18 (b) RELATING TO THIS ACT.—Nothing in subsection 19 (a) may be construed to modify or limit any obligation 20 of the United States pursuant to an international treaty 21 that was ratified by the President with the advice and con- 22 sent of the Senate, including the United Nations Frame- 23 work Convention on Climate Change. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 Mar 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H395.IH H395 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 395 IH SEC. 3. ACTIONS TO ESTABLISH OR REVISE UNITED STATES 1 NATIONALLY DETERMINED CONTRIBUTION 2 UNDER THE PARIS AGREEMENT. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Any action to establish or revise 4 the United States nationally determined contribution 5 under the Paris Agreement shall have force and effect only 6 if— 7 (1) before the President submits the nationally 8 determined contribution to the United Nations 9 Framework Convention on Climate Change Secre- 10 tariat, the President submits to Congress a report 11 that— 12 (A) describes the proposed action; 13 (B) includes a plan for the United States 14 to meet its nationally determined contribution 15 under the Paris Agreement that details— 16 (i) a complete description of measures 17 under the authority of the Federal Govern- 18 ment necessary to achieve the United 19 States nationally determined contribution, 20 including new or revised regulations, new 21 or revised authorities that require congres- 22 sional actions, and new or revised financial 23 incentives; and 24 (ii) how the United States will use the 25 Paris Agreement’s transparency provisions 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 Mar 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H395.IH H395 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 395 IH to confirm that other parties to the Agree- 1 ment, including all major emitters, are ful- 2 filling their announced contributions to the 3 Agreement; 4 (C) describes how the United States na- 5 tionally determined contribution will impact the 6 level of total global emissions, based on the 7 most recent available global emissions data, and 8 how the United States nationally determined 9 contribution in the aggregate with the nation- 10 ally determined contributions of other countries 11 submitted under the Paris Agreement will re- 12 sult in a reduction of global emissions below 13 2005 levels by 2036 or by the date that is 15 14 years after the submission of the United States 15 nationally determined contribution, whichever 16 occurs later; 17 (D) if any measure described in subpara- 18 graph (B)(i) results in increased costs of energy 19 produced or consumed in the United States or 20 increased costs to manufacture or produce 21 goods or resources in the United States, in- 22 cludes specific policy measures that will pre- 23 vent— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 Mar 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H395.IH H395 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 395 IH (i) job displacement that would result 1 as a result of any such measure; 2 (ii) reduced global competitiveness of 3 goods and resources manufactured or pro- 4 duced in the United States as a result of 5 any such measure; and 6 (iii) leaked emissions, including new 7 or increased lifecycle greenhouse gas emis- 8 sions that will occur outside of the United 9 States, as a result of any such measure; 10 (E) includes a specific timeline for imple- 11 menting the specific policy measures described 12 in subparagraph (D) in a manner that such 13 measures are fully implemented and in effect 14 prior to or simultaneously with implementation 15 and effectiveness of the measures described in 16 subparagraph (B)(i) in order to ensure there is 17 no period of time when domestic jobs and man- 18 ufacturing will be negatively impacted by such 19 measures described in subparagraph (B)(i); and 20 (F) contains a determination of the Presi- 21 dent that the proposed action is in the national 22 interest of the United States; and 23 (2) during the 60-day period beginning on the 24 date on which the report is submitted under para- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 Mar 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H395.IH H395 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 395 IH graph (1), a joint resolution of disapproval described 1 in subsection (b) with respect to the proposed action 2 is not enacted into law. 3 (b) JOINT RESOLUTION OF DISAPPROVAL.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—In this subsection, the term 5 ‘‘joint resolution of disapproval’’ means only a joint 6 resolution of either House of Congress— 7 (A) the title of which is as follows: ‘‘A joint 8 resolution disapproving the action of the Presi- 9 dent to establish or revise the United States na- 10 tionally determined contribution under the 11 Paris Agreement.’’; and 12 (B) the sole matter after the resolving 13 clause of which is as follows: ‘‘Congress dis- 14 approves of the action of the President to estab- 15 lish or revise the United States nationally deter- 16 mined contribution under the Paris Agreement 17 as proposed by the President in the report sub- 18 mitted to Congress under section 3(a)(1) of the 19 Protecting American Resources, Innovation, 20 and Sovereignty Act on ll relating to ll.’’, 21 with the first blank space being filled with the 22 appropriate date and the second blank space 23 being filled with a short description of the pro- 24 posed action. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 Mar 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H395.IH H395 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 395 IH (2) CONGRESSIONAL PROCEDURES.—A joint 1 resolution of disapproval shall be considered in the 2 House of Representatives and the Senate in accord- 3 ance with paragraphs (3) through (5) of section 4 135(e) of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 5 U.S.C. 2160e(e)). 6 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 7 In this Act: 8 (1) MAJOR EMITTER.—The term ‘‘major emit- 9 ter’’ means any country, or defined group of coun- 10 tries that share a common nationally determined 11 contribution under the Paris Agreement, that ac- 12 counts for at least one percent of global greenhouse 13 gas emissions based on most recent data as deter- 14 mined by the Department of State. 15 (2) PARIS AGREEMENT.—The term ‘‘Paris 16 Agreement’’ means the decision by the United Na- 17 tions Framework Convention on Climate Change’s 18 21st Conference of Parties in Paris, France, adopted 19 December 12, 2015. 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 Mar 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H395.IH H395 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS