In the News

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) arrives in Belém, Brazil, for COP30 today as the sole U.S. federal representative at the United Nations talks. Whitehouse is keeping a packed itinerary, where his office said he will meet with elected officials along with business and global climate leaders. His goal is to show the U.S. public still broadly supports addressing climate change despite Trump abstaining from the negotiations, his office said in a press release.

Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, the top Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, will be at the COP30 climate summit in Brazil starting Friday. A group of House members affiliated with the chamber's Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC) were also unable to go. The affiliated nonprofit SEEC Institute will still have a presence and will support Whitehouse.

Among the delegation who anticipated being in Brazil was Pelosi, Natural Resources ranking member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) and leadership from the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition. “The world still needs and wants American leadership, and unfortunately, the consequence of Donald Trump pulling the United States delegation out at the federal level is just that China is going to get a few more of these amazing opportunities,” Huffman said.

Congressional lawmakers are pushing back on Trump administration plans to end greenhouse gas reporting requirements for top polluters. On Friday, another group of House Democrats affiliated with the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition wrote to Zeldin urging him to maintain the program. That letter, led by [Vice Chair] Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) and other SEEC leaders, claimed that EPA was violating congressional directives by ending GHGRP.

The annual climate negotiations, which kicked off in Belém on Monday, typically draws a bipartisan group of congressional lawmakers. But individual lawmakers began canceling their trips in recent weeks as the shutdown made it logistically difficult to travel. Now, the sole remaining delegation — led by the nonprofit arm of the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC) — officially canceled its trip Monday, in anticipation of House votes to end the federal shutdown.

From city halls to the halls of Congress, elected leaders make lots of decisions that affect the climate. So U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley of Illinois, co-chair of the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition, says people concerned about climate change can make a difference by pushing for action at any level of government.

The Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC) Institute — a nonprofit affiliated with the House's SEEC caucus — is pushing forward with plans to take between 15 and 20 Democratic House members to the Belém talks. Among the members set to attend are Reps. [SEEC Vice Chair] Sean Casten (D-Ill.), [SEEC Members] Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), and Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.). Pearson Croney-Clark, director of external affairs at the SEEC Institute, said the group hopes to keep “U.S. leadership visible.”

[SEEC Clean Energy Deployment Task Force Co-Chairs] Democratic Reps. Sean Casten of Illinois and Mike Levin from California are preparing to introduce sweeping energy legislation that would reverse Trump administration policies, including by restoring clean energy tax credits and limiting the U.S. Department of Energy’s ability to declare “energy emergencies” to keep fossil-fueled power plants from retiring. The draft Cheap Energy Act aims to put downward pressure on electricity bills by bolstering energy efficiency efforts, supporting grid-enhancing technologies and helping provide lower-cost renewable energy projects access to the grid, according to Casten.