[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.
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