Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi have criticized the Trump Administration for its approach to climate policy. The officials spoke at a press conference in Washington, D.C., expressing concern over what they described as a retreat from global climate leadership.
The criticism follows the Trump Administration’s decision not to send an official U.S. delegation to the United Nations’ 30th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP30) in Belém, Brazil. Senator Whitehouse was present at COP30 as the only U.S. federal official attending. This marks the first time in three decades that no official American delegation participated in these international climate negotiations.
According to Senator Whitehouse, "Globally, we are seeing signs of the great climate insurance collapse. It’s been warned of in the United States now by the Federal Reserve, by Aon insurance, and by the former chief economist of Freddie Mac. Climate risk makes insurance unmanageable, which makes mortgages unavailable, which makes property values fall, which leads to a 2008-style recession," he said. He further stated: "That’s the cascade, and we wouldn’t be where we are if the fossil fuel industry had not run a long and fraudulent campaign of climate denial. And we wouldn’t be where we are if the fossil fuel industry had not, since Citizens United, used its power to spend unlimited dark money in politics—and threaten and promise to spend unlimited dark money in politics—to prevent reasonable, sensible climate action from happening. Trump does not represent the United States on matters related to climate. He represents the fossil fuel industry, and specifically his big billionaire fossil fuel donors, when it comes to climate matters."
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries commented on America’s absence at COP30: "It’s shameful that the Trump administration and the United States government chose not to be involved and engaged at the most recent COP conference, essentially ceding leadership on this issue to the Chinese Communist Party while leaving Americans behind," he said. Jeffries added: "As it relates to dealing with the climate crisis, a corrupt bargain has been struck between these outside special interests, Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress, which is why there's no action in dealing with the climate crisis because they are following the perspective of GOP big donors. That’s corruption in real time, and it's having an adverse impact on American people."
Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi highlighted broader concerns: "The climate crisis is a health issue for our children, an economic issue for America’s workers, a security issue as droughts, floods and rising seas drive instability and migration and a fundamental values issue about whether we will be good stewards of God’s creation," she said. Pelosi continued: "If you believe as I do that this is God’s creation then we have a moral responsibility to act—to protect air our children breathe; water they drink; communities they call home. Donald Trump and Republicans may be in pocket of fossil fuel industry but Democrats are in corner of American people fighting to lower costs advance clean energy pass on sustainable planet future generations."
No additional information was provided regarding specific policy proposals or legislative actions discussed during this press conference.
