Kaine statement on Trump, Paris Agreement

U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement on President Trump’s decision to abandon America’s commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement.

“President Trump’s retreat from the Paris Agreement will turn over America’s international leadership role to China and make it harder to deal with the realities of climate change we already see at home in places like Hampton Roads, Virginia. This retreat also reflects an extraordinary lack of faith in American innovation, as the President seems to think that the U.S. commitment to cut about 1/4th of our carbon pollution by 2025 is beyond the grasp of the country that won World War II and put men on the moon. I reject the notion that this nation has to choose between our clean energy and economic goals. I want to tell my grandchildren that the United States met this challenge head-on and triumphed over it, not shrank and cowered from it. I am confident that our nation’s optimistic, can-do spirit will eventually prevail over this short-sighted dereliction of America’s leadership role.”