Sen. Ernst to Introduce Bill Mandating Tracking White House, Executive Branch Carbon Emissions Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) says she is introducing legislation that would require the federal government to track and make public the carbon emissions produced by President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and executive branch departments and agencies. “What I’ve done is put forward some new legislation which will track the carbon emissions of White House and executive branch officials,” Ernst told reporters on March 17 during a digital news conference to mark Sunshine Week. Sunshine Week celebrates important transparency-in-government laws such as the federal Freedom of Information Act and the March 16 birthday of President James Madison, one of the main authors of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. “Thirty-five years after drafting the Constitution, Madison wrote that democracy without information is ‘but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy,’” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said.