President Joe Biden claimed incorrectly in his interview with The Weather Channel that he has "already" declared a national climate emergency, before shifting his answer on the matter to "practically speaking."
The president, while speaking with the cable channel at the Grand Canyon, said that he's "already done that" when he was asked if he intends to declare a climate emergency, as climate activists have sought since the early days of his presidency, reports CNN.
"We've conserved more land, we've rejoined the Paris Climate Accords, we've passed the $368 billion climate control facility. We're moving. It is the existential threat to humanity," he said in the interview, airing Wednesday.
But Biden has stopped short of declaring an emergency, even while taking several executive and legislative steps in the fight against climate change.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday that when answering the question, Biden was referring to his action last year invoking the Defense Production Act to push the production of clean energy.
Biden "was clear in the interview, as he has been for decades, about the existential threat of climate change and the urgency and priority he places on addressing it," another White House official said.
Biden's interview came during a four-day tour in the West, where he on Tuesday designated a new monument at the Grand Canyon.
The trip was scheduled to build excitement about his actions against the climate crisis.
Biden did, however, come close to declaring an emergency last summer, after it appeared that Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., had sunk his signature Inflation Reduction Act.
While speaking on July 20, 2022, Biden hinted that it was within his power to declare a climate emergency.
"Climate change is an emergency, and in the coming weeks I'm going to use the power I have as president to turn these words into formal, official, government actions through the appropriate proclamations, executive orders, and regulatory power that a president possesses," he said.
However, a deal was reached between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Manchin a week later on the bill, which Biden signed in August 2022. The measure included funding of $369 billion for climate change.
Biden still has not declared a climate emergency, and according to a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll released Monday, 57% of Americans disapprove of his handling of the issue.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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