President Joe Biden reassured donors Monday that he would use his executive powers to act on climate change, even as energy prices are at record highs.
“The climate crisis is the existential threat. That’s not hyperbole; it’s a fact,” Biden said after taking the podium at a Democratic National Committee Fundraiser in Washington, DC.
Biden promised to take “aggressive” executive actions on climate regulations even if the Supreme Court overruled him. He acknowledged that progress on the issue of climate change was difficult to achieve in Congress, hinting that donors could help him pressure lawmakers.
“There’s a long way to go, but we’re running into some obstacles that I’m going to need your help on in terms of individuals, as well as circumstances,” he said.
Biden expressed his desire to keep the predicted rise in global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius, warning of a dark future for the planet if he failed.
“Our grandchildren will never forgive us, and the world will change. I mean, literal sense it will change,” he said.
The war in Ukraine and Russia’s impact on oil prices, Biden said, only prove that the United States and Europe need to stop using fossil fuels.
“Imagine where we’d be right now if, in fact, Europe was in fact energy free of fossil fuels and we were in a situation where it was all renewables,” he said. “It’d be a different world.”
His words echoed a speech Kamala Harris gave at a Clean Transit Event, as reported by Breitbart News last week. “Imagine a future: The freight trucks that deliver bread and milk to our grocery store shelves and the buses that take children to school and parents to work…. Imagine that they produced zero emissions,” she said.
The president did not talk about how his climate change policies could raise costs further for Americans suffering the punishing inflation rates and a spike in energy prices.
Biden argued he could help families cut costs by passing subsidies for improving the energy efficiency of homes, lowering the cost of electric cars, and doubling the production of wind and solar power.
He told the audience of donors the issue of climate change was personal, as he cited a conversation he had that day with his daughter Ashley, who is a social worker.
“I called her tonight to tell her I love her … and she said, ‘Dad, you’re talking about climate, right? Talking about climate,’” he recalled to the audience. “And dad is talking about climate.”
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