President Joe Biden and Stephanie Abrams of The Weather Channel got an unexpected visitor as the president talked about the climate crisis during an exclusive interview.
The president taped an interview with Abrams during his trip to Arizona Tuesday, where he delivered a speech on the Inflation Reduction Act and its impact on fighting climate change.
On Wednesday morning’s edition of America’s Morning Headquarters, the first clip from that interview aired, and it included a visitor who got shooed away as the president explained that he has, for all practical purposes, already declared a national emergency on climate change:
STEPHANIE ABRAMS: Exclusive interview with the Weather Channel. I had a chance to speak with President Biden about why he hasn’t declared a climate crisis a national emergency. Mr. President, you call climate change a code red for humanity. The World Health Organization said it will cause an additional quarter of a million deaths a year starting in 2030. Are you prepared to declare a national emergency with respect to climate change?PRESIDENT BIDEN: We’ve already done that nationally. We’ve conserved more land. We’ve moved in to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord. We’ve passed a $360 billion climate control facility. We’re moving. See it is the existential threat to America.STEPHANIE ABRAMS: So you’ve already declared that national emergency?PRESIDENT BIDEN: Well, in practical– you have a bug on you!STEPHANIE ABRAMS:
Thanks! Appreciate it. So you’ve already declared that national emergency…PRESIDENT BIDEN: Practically speaking, yes.STEPHANIE ABRAMS: Yeah.
For some reason, the RNC Research rapid response Twitter account chose to highlight the moment — perhaps as an example of the Biden administration coming for our bugs?
Biden made similar remarks during his speech Tuesday (about climate, not the bug), boasting about his administration’s efforts:
But none of this need be inevitable. From the start of my administration, we’ve taken an unprecedented action to combat climate crisis.Last year, I signed the largest climate bill in the history not only of the United States, but literally in the history of the world. It’s the biggest investment in climate conservation and environmental justice ever anywhere in the history of the world.
Watch above via The Weather Channel.