Recognizing a health and safety emergency disproportionately affecting the fundamental rights of children due to the Trump administration's directives that unleash fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change, while suppressing climate change science.

H. Con. Res. 44 is a House concurrent resolution introduced in the 119th Congress that formally recognizes a health and safety emergency affecting children due to policies described as unleashing fossil fuels, increasing greenhouse gas emissions, and suppressing climate science. The resolution frames these actions as harmful to children’s fundamental rights to life, liberty, and property and to a stable climate system. It urges Congress and the federal government to oppose the President’s executive orders, reverse policies that expand fossil fuel production and hinder clean energy, restore the EPA to its core mission, and restore climate science data on federal websites. Importantly, as a concurrent resolution, it is non-binding and serves to express legislative intent and political signaling rather than create new law or allocate funding. The text also emphasizes environmental justice concerns (noting disproportionate impacts on vulnerable populations), calls for an intergenerational approach to governance, and sets out principles for aligning current and future energy and climate actions with protecting children’s rights and reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide to levels described in the resolution (including a target of less than 350 parts per million CO2 by the year 2100). It frames climate science data access and research as essential to protecting children’s rights and public health.