The Obama administration said Tuesday that it has the legal right to fund United Nations climate change programs, rejecting GOP accusations that recent events regarding Palestinian participation in the programs require it to cease all participation.
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and more than two dozen other senators, sent a letter last week directing Secretary of State John Kerry to suspend all funds for climate change activities, including a contentious $100 billion U.N. green climate fund.
On Tuesday, the State Department said their argument is incorrect and does not necessitate withholding funds.
The Wyoming senator said the administration’s response “is intentionally misleading” because the administration knows what it is doing is illegal.
“The administration is unwilling to follow the law,” and the “verbal gymnastics they’re using to try and justify their unlawful actions should surprise no one,” Barrasso said. “The law is clear. Funding for this U.N. organization must stop now.”
The crux of Barrasso’s argument on why funding the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is illegal is based on a recent “State of Palestine” designation made under the convention. The senators argue that because the U.S. does not recognize Palestinian statehood, it cannot participate under the UNFCCC and must stop all funding of programs related to it.
But the State Department does not agree with the senators’ interpretation on what constitutes a legal trigger under the law governing the U.S.’s participation in international organizations.
“The UNFCCC is a treaty, and the Palestinians’ purported accession to it does not involve their becoming members of any UN specialized agency or, indeed any international organization,” the State Department asserts in a letter to Barrasso.
“More generally, as a matter of policy, we do not believe that it advances U.S. interests to respond to Palestinian efforts by withholding critical funds that support the implementation of key international agreements,” the letter by Assistant Secretary Julia Frifield reads.
“We continue to believe that the most effective way to promote U.S. interests and influence debate on key issues is by working constructively within international agreements.”
