Climate Change
More on Climate Change
(Washington, DC) Ahead of the November meeting of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 26), the Republican members of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee sent a letter to President Joe Biden today asking for information on how the Administration set its greenhouse gas emissions reduction target for the Paris Agreement.
(Washington, DC)—Today, the House passed the following bipartisan Science Committee bills:
Thank you for holding this hearing, Mr. Chairman.
Today’s hearing is an important opportunity for the Committee to engage in oversight of NASA’s current and future earth science and climate activities. I’m looking forward to discussing how the agency can best utilize resources within existing budgets and how it would use additional resources. NASA’s mandate to research Earth’s atmosphere dates back to the passage of NASA’s Organic Act in 1958, which stated NASA shall seek the “expansion of human knowledge of phenomena in the atmosphere and space.”
Today’s hearing is particularly timely. The Biden Administration proposed increasing NASA’s Earth Science budget by $300 million – a 12.5 percent increase above FY21 enacted levels. Since we don’t have other details about the proposed budget yet, we do not know what impact this proposal will have on other aspects of the agency, or how the agency is proposing to spend this increase. While those details may be lacking at this moment, there are a number of other initiatives currently underway at NASA that we can explore.
(Washington, DC) Today, House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Environment Ranking Member Stephanie Bice (R-OK) led a letter to National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy requesting information on the Biden Administration’s emissions reduction pledge to the Paris Agreement.
(Washington, DC) – House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Ranking Member Frank Lucas sent a letter to the Biden Administration requesting information on the abrupt decision to remove Dr. Betsy Weatherhead from her role as Director of the Fifth National Climate Assessment.
Thank you, Chairwoman Sherrill and Chairwoman Johnson, for bringing together this excellent panel and hearing. I look forward to seeing the productive work of this subcommittee as we move further into the 117th Congress.