“Nothing in the Procurement Act remotely authorizes the proposed rule’s sweeping climate-related disclosure provisions.”
—Cory Andrews, WLF General Counsel & Vice President of Litigation

Click HERE to read comment.

(Washington, DC)—Washington Legal Foundation (WLF) today urged the Biden Administration to withdraw a proposed rule that would amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation to require federal contractors to disclose greenhouse-gas emissions and climate-related financial risks and to set emissions-reduction targets.

In formal comments urging the Department of Defense (DoD), General Services Administration (GSA), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to abandon the proposed rule, WLF argues that the mandated disclosures, if adopted, would far exceed the administration’s authority under the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 (Procurement Act). Indeed, DoD, GSA, and NASA are not legislative bodies; they must abide by the words of the Procurement Act that Congress enacted. The Proposed Rule does violence to this basic constitutional principle. Moreover, government contractors enjoy the same First Amendment rights as everyone else. By compelling companies to speak publicly on a matter when they would prefer not to, the proposed rule unconstitutionally compels speech.

For these reasons, WLF urges the Biden administration to withdraw the proposed rule.