[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 152 (Wednesday, September 21, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4897-S4898]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TREATY DOCUMENT NO. 117-1

  Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, as the current ranking member of the U.S. 
Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works--EPW--Committee, I 
submit these comments to provide the Senate with additional information 
on the existing domestic authority to phasedown the production and 
consumption of hydrofluorocarbons, HFCs. The EPW Committee has 
jurisdiction over air pollution, and in the 116th Congress, managed the 
development of the domestic authority to implement the Kigali 
Amendment, See 218 Cong. Rec. S7926, daily ed. Dec. 21. 2020, statement 
of then-EPW Chairman John Barrasso, then-EPW Ranking Member Tom Carper, 
and Sen. John Kennedy).
  As the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations clearly states in Senate 
Executive Report 117-2, no further legislation is required to implement 
the Kigali Amendment and the Amendment is not self-executing. New 
authority is not granted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency--
EPA--through ratification.
  In section 103 in division S of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 
2021, the American Innovation and Manufacturing--AIM--Act of 2020, P.L. 
116-260, was enacted. That law established a new, national program 
administered by the EPA to phasedown the production and consumption of 
certain HFC substances due to their significant global warming 
potential. Specifically, the AIM Act requires the EPA to implement an 
85 percent phasedown of the production and consumption of regulated HFC 
substances, requiring levels to reach approximately 15 percent of their 
2011-2013 average annual levels by 2036.
  The AIM Act provides all the necessary authorities to phasedown the 
production and consumption of HFCs in the United States in line with 
U.S. obligations under the Kigali Amendment and is already being 
implemented by the EPA. In October 2021, the EPA issued a final rule 
establishing the allowance allocation for 2022 and 2023, along with 
establishing a trading program for HFCs. 86 Fed. Reg. 55,116, Oct. 5, 
2021. As stated in that final agency action, the Kigali Amendment and 
the AIM Act have ``a nearly identical list of HFCs to be phased down 
following the same schedule,'' Id. at 55,124. The EPA is currently 
developing regulations to update allowance allocations and the trading 
program for 2024 and later years.
  I thank my colleagues at the U.S. Senate committee on Foreign 
Relations for providing a clear Congressional statement that no new 
legislation is required and that the Kigali Amendment is not self-
executing. As Congress has already enacted the required domestic 
implementing legislation, I support ratification.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
  Mr. SULLIVAN. Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays on the 
amendment.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The yeas and nays are ordered.
  Under the previous order, all postcloture time has expired.


                          Amendment Withdrawn

  Under the previous order, amendment No. 5503 is withdrawn.


 =========================== NOTE =========================== 

  
  On page S4897, September 21, 2022, third column, the following 
appears: Amendment Withdrawn Under the previous order, amendment 
No. 5543 is withdrawn.
  
  The online Record has been corrected to read: Amendment 
Withdrawn Under the previous order, amendment No. 5503 is 
withdrawn.


 ========================= END NOTE ========================= 


                       Vote on Amendment No. 5518

  The question is on agreeing to amendment No. 5518.
  The yeas and nays have been previously ordered.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Wisconsin (Ms. Baldwin) 
and the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Leahy) are necessarily absent.
  Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Idaho (Mr. Crapo) and the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Risch).
  The result was announced--yeas 96, nays 0, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 342 Ex.]

                                YEAS--96

     Barrasso
     Bennet
     Blackburn
     Blumenthal
     Blunt
     Booker
     Boozman
     Braun
     Brown
     Burr
     Cantwell
     Capito
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Coons
     Cornyn
     Cortez Masto
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Cruz
     Daines
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Ernst
     Feinstein
     Fischer
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hagerty
     Hassan
     Hawley
     Heinrich
     Hickenlooper
     Hirono
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Inhofe
     Johnson
     Kaine
     Kelly
     Kennedy
     King
     Klobuchar
     Lankford
     Lee
     Lujan
     Lummis
     Manchin
     Markey
     Marshall

[[Page S4898]]


     McConnell
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Ossoff
     Padilla
     Paul
     Peters
     Portman
     Reed
     Romney
     Rosen
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Sanders
     Sasse
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Shaheen
     Shelby
     Sinema
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Sullivan
     Tester
     Thune
     Tillis
     Toomey
     Tuberville
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warnock
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden
     Young

                             NOT VOTING--4

     Baldwin
     Crapo
     Leahy
     Risch
  The amendment (No. 5518) was agreed to.


                  Vote on Resolution of Ratification 
                              (No. 117-1)

  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Ossoff). The question occurs on agreeing 
to the resolution of ratification, as amended.
  Mr. CARPER. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Wisconsin (Ms. Baldwin) 
and the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Leahy) are necessarily absent.
  Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Idaho (Mr. Crapo) and the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Risch).
  The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 69, nays 27, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 343 Ex.]

                                YEAS--69

     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Blunt
     Booker
     Boozman
     Brown
     Burr
     Cantwell
     Capito
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Coons
     Cortez Masto
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Ernst
     Feinstein
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hassan
     Heinrich
     Hickenlooper
     Hirono
     Hyde-Smith
     Kaine
     Kelly
     Kennedy
     King
     Klobuchar
     Lujan
     Manchin
     Markey
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Ossoff
     Padilla
     Peters
     Portman
     Reed
     Romney
     Rosen
     Rubio
     Sanders
     Sasse
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Sinema
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Tillis
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warnock
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden
     Young

                                NAYS--27

     Barrasso
     Blackburn
     Braun
     Cornyn
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Cruz
     Daines
     Fischer
     Hagerty
     Hawley
     Hoeven
     Inhofe
     Johnson
     Lankford
     Lee
     Lummis
     Marshall
     Paul
     Rounds
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Shelby
     Sullivan
     Thune
     Toomey
     Tuberville

                             NOT VOTING--4

     Baldwin
     Crapo
     Leahy
     Risch
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hickenlooper). On this vote, the yeas are 
69, the nays are 27.
  Two-thirds of the Senators present, a quorum being present, having 
voted in the affirmative, the resolution of ratification is agreed to.
  The resolution of ratification, as amended, is as follows:
       Resolved, (two-thirds of the Senators present concurring 
     therein).

     SECTION 1. SENATE ADVICE AND CONSENT SUBJECT TO DECLARATIONS 
                   AND A CONDITION

       The Senate advises and consents to the ratification of the 
     Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete 
     the Ozone Layer (the ``Montreal Protocol''), adopted at 
     Kigali on October 15, 2016, by the Twenty-Eighth Meeting of 
     the Parties to the Montreal Protocol (``The Kigali 
     Amendment'') (Treaty Doc. 117-1), subject to the declarations 
     of section 2 and the condition of section 3.

     SECTION 2. DECLARATIONS

       The advice and consent of the Senate under section 1 is 
     subject to the following declarations:
       (1) The Kigali amendment is not self-executing.
       (2) The People's Republic of China is not a developing 
     country, and the United Nations and other intergovernmental 
     organizations should not treat the People's Republic of China 
     as such.

     SEC. 3. CONDITION.

       The advice and consent of the Senate under section 1 is 
     subject to the following condition: Prior to the Thirty-Fifth 
     Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol, the 
     Secretary of State shall transmit to the Secretariat of the 
     Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer a 
     proposal to amend Decision I/12E, ``Clarification of terms 
     and definitions: developing countries,'' made at the First 
     Meeting of the Parties, to remove the People's Republic of 
     China.

                          ____________________