States with poor climate policy ‘overlap’ with those seeking to limit rights, Kamala Harris says ‘We could just leave them there’
A day after President Donald Trump tweeted his intention to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, top Democratic presidential candidates were asked for their reactions to the decision. They all were quick to say that they are against withdrawing from the climate deal, though they are mixed on how to stop Trump from withdrawing.
California Sen. Kamala Harris, a climate change skeptic until recently, said that withdrawing from the Paris agreement would be a “poor economic move,” because the US government can’t afford to leave it.
California Sen. Kamala Harris, a climate change skeptic until recently, said that withdrawing from the Paris agreement would be a “poor economic move,” because the US government can’t afford to leave it. Photo: Win McNamee /Getty Images
The former prosecutor said she would support using her Clean Air Act authority to hold states that are violating the global warming agreement “accountable to the full extent of the law.”
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said that “if the president really wants to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, let him go to France and start a country” — like the one Trump vowed to do to protect the US climate agreement and support the Paris agreement.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said that while he is “a supporter of the Paris agreement,” because he thinks “it’s not perfect,” the US shouldn’t do anything “that makes it less or causes us to walk away” from the agreement.
Sen. Kamala Harris, who once called climate skeptics “deluded,” said that pulling out of the agreement “would be a bad thing to do,” because “when we say we’re leaving the Paris Agreement, what we’re really saying is we’re leaving the planet.”
“This is the real economy of the 21st century, and we can do better than this,” Harris said.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) criticized Trump for withdrawing from the Paris agreement, “but I think he’s right not to do that because he doesn’t want the rest of the