The view from Washington: Trump’s second term and the climate policy showdown

To describe Washington, DC, as anything other than a circus would be to do it an injustice. Mind you, it’s not just any circus. It’s a two-ring Roman Circus with President Trump as its master.

For those unfamiliar with the phrase, a Roman Circus is one in which leaders keep their populace occupied with shiny things, while they do the business of government unmolested by the masses. Unsurprisingly, it’s usually a nefarious business, and the diversion is designed to keep the masses from revolting by giving them “bread and circuses” (panem et circenses). The theory is attributed to the Roman poet Juvenal.

In Trumpworld, it’s not so much bread that the ringmaster offers as red meat to his most ardent MAGA supporters and bizarre claims on other people’s countries and trade wars with our closest allies to distract his detractors. In the meantime, Congress is working to keep the government open and the president happy.

In mid-March, a Republican-only Congress passed a Continuing Resolution keeping the government open for the rest of the current fiscal year (September 30, 2025). The passage was considered a significant victory for House Speaker Johnson (R-LA) and the White House. Johnson managed to get all but one of the House Republicans to support it. It was the only vote he could afford to lose without with such thin a majority. However, Johnson will find it more difficult to keep his members in line in the coming months.

It almost came down to the wire in the Senate. Minority Leader Schumer (D-NY) announced a couple of days before the deadline that he was voting for the House bill – unchanged. It meant the Democrats weren’t going to filibuster the bill in return for some concessions – any concessions.

Schumer had his reasons. However, the Democrats on and off Capitol Hill are experiencing significant blowback for going along with a bill that cut programs and services to lower-income Americans and multiple other priorities like climate-related programs and policies.

Congress has just been back a few days from its week-long break. The House and Senate continue to have different visions of how to pass the president's America First Agenda through a process that doesn’t permit a filibuster by the minority party. Significant differences exist between the majorities in both chambers regarding what should be in the bill or bills and in what order.

Until the Republicans can figure out what they’re doing, most things on the Hill are performative and about messaging. The Democrats still seem to be searching for the messaging mojo. There are clear divisions within the party between moderates and progressives.

Schumer’s capitulation has led to calls for him to step down from his Senate leadership position. Pressure for a changing of the guards was given a boost by the substantial adverse reaction to the Dems not even making an effort to get something out of the CR negotiations. The speaker didn't even ask the Ds to engage.

Senator Sanders (I-VT) and Representative Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) used the break to go out on their “On Fighting the Oligarchy Tour.” Although there’s debate in the Democratic ranks that “oligarchy” may not be the buzzword to convince voters, there’s no arguing the crowd sizes they encountered. They’re getting huge turnouts – in some cases, more than ever in their careers, e.g., 34K in Denver.

Democrats aren’t the only voters who are concerned with Trump’s onslaught of executive orders and the ways in which they’re being carried out. Republicans in Congress are being warned NOT to hold town hall meetings because of the anger, concern, and confusion over what’s going on in Capital City.

New executive orders are being issued and challenged in court almost daily. There are already well over 100 lawsuits against the administration for everything from re-writing the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution to summarily dismantling agencies and budgets over which the legislative branch normally has control.

A big question now is whether the administration will comply with judicial orders. Trump lost 90 percent of the legal challenges in his first administration. It appears that Trump 2.0 is off to an even worse start – notwithstanding the willingness of the Department of Justice to do his bidding. Every time a decision goes against the administration, Trump, Co-president Musk, and others cry “impeachment!”

It's gotten so bad that Chief Justice Roberts took to social media to suggest impeachment is not the remedy when you don’t agree with a ruling. Trump is also making moves against private law firms for representing challengers to his policies and actions. (See here for a more detailed discussion.)

Without a plan and agreement within the Republican conferences in both chambers, much of what will be going on in Congress is going to be white noise. However, the administration has declared an administrative war on Biden's climate-related legacy and US environmental policies back to Nixon's presidency.

Among the environmental targets in Trump’s sights are:

· Clean Power Plan 2.0: The rules, finalized by the Biden EPA, regulated existing coal-fired and new natural gas-fired power plants operating past 2039 and required them to control around 90% of their carbon pollution.

· Mercury and Air Toxic Standards: These rules, finalized under the Biden administration, strengthened emission standards for toxic metals by 67% and finalized a 70% reduction of mercury emissions for power plants.

· The Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program: This requires large greenhouse gas emission sources, fuel and gas suppliers, and other facilities to report their emissions of greenhouse gas emissions released in the production, transportation, and burning of fuels.

· EPA Vehicle Emission Standards: Under the Biden administration, the EPA finalized new emission standards for light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicles for model year 2027 to reduce air pollution.

· The Good Neighbor Plan: Finalized by the Biden EPA, this regulation looked to reduce ozone-forming emissions from power plants and similar facilities that would drift into other states.

· 2009 Endangerment Finding: It found that six greenhouse gases (including carbon dioxide and methane) generated by human activity seen in the atmosphere threaten the public's health and welfare, allowing the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

· EPA ALSO LOOKS TO REVISE WOTUS: The EPA will look to redefine “Waters of the United States,” a regulation that clarifies which bodies of water are subjected to federal oversight to comply with the 2023 Supreme Court ruling in Sackett v EPA.

There’s a long way to go before anything Trump 2.0 does is final. There are multiple lawsuits already being followed and prepared – especially by Democratic state attorneys general – challenging both the administration’s proposed actions and the process used to get there, e.g., the Administrative Procedures Act.

This article is also available on Civil Notion. illuminem Voices is a democratic space presenting the thoughts and opinions of leading Sustainability & Energy writers, their opinions do not necessarily represent those of illuminem.