UNITED STATES — In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, AHRI President and CEO Stephen Yurek extolled the benefits of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol and urged its “expeditious” ratification. Yurek told committee members that the Amendment enjoys broad, bipartisan support and would be an economic boon to U.S. manufacturers and a job-creator for American citizens. There was broad agreement among those committee members present that the Amendment should be ratified, with Committee Ranking Republican James Risch (R-Idaho) stating that, “it needs to move,” and telling reporters after the hearing that he had not “heard one negative word” about the treaty.

Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) noted in his opening statement that the Committee had received many letters of support from manufacturers, including several AHRI members, as well as one from Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Republican John Kennedy (R-La.), who shepherded the authorizing legislation — the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act — through the Senate in 2020.