White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday that President Biden won’t declare a climate emergency this week, but that doesn’t mean he won’t do it eventually.
“He’s going to take, as I said, additional climate actions in that vein tomorrow, and he’s going to continue — he’s not going to just stop with the actions of tomorrow, but I would not plan [an] announcement this week on [a] national climate emergency,” Jean-Pierre told reporters during a press briefing.
“Everything’s on the table. It’s just not going to be this week on that decision,” she added.
Jean-Pierre added that if the administration does declare the emergency, it would unlock a certain “pot of funding” but didn’t give many specifics.
“Declaring a public health emergency is very different from declaring a climate emergency. Each unlocks a different set of priorities and a different pot of funding,” she said, contrasting the potential for an abortion emergency.
Discussions of declaring a climate emergency have ramped up since Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) walked away from congressional climate talks last week.
Meanwhile, there has also been chatter about the potential for a public health emergency on abortion access after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Sources had previously told The Hill that the Biden administration was weighing the climate emergency.
Biden is expected to discuss climate change during a Wednesday trip to Massachusetts, where he may unveil some of the “additional actions” that Jean-Pierre referenced.