Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., admitted Tuesday he was surprised that secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson supports a carbon tax, given President-elect Trump’s criticism of President Obama’s climate change policies.
“My understanding is that [the Exxon Mobil CEO] advocated for a carbon tax and for market mechanisms to address climate change as the most even-handed way — a revenue-neutral carbon tax — as the most effective and even-handed way to tackle climate change,” Coons told reporters Tuesday in the Senate. “That’s intriguing. I didn’t expect that from an oil-and-gas man.”
That could be a rare issue Tillerson can hang his hat on in Democratic offices, as he goes through what is shaping up to be a difficult confirmation fight, despite the fact that Republicans control the Senate and Democrats can’t filibuster a cabinet nominee due to rule changes weakening the minority that they implemented in 2013. Coons, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wants the confirmation hearings to focus on Tillerson’s relationship with Russia and the international deals he has negotiated as head of Exxon Mobil.
“A major multinational, multi-billion dollar oil and gas company often puts stability, predictability, ahead of rights and values,” Coons told reporters on Tuesday. “And I suspect we will be having discussions about a number of different countries where he negotiated relationships or deals with dictators or authoritarian regimes that worked for Exxon Mobil, but that would not work for America’s interests.”
Senate Republicans argue that Trump’s nominees should receive a speedy confirmation, along the lines of 2009 when President Obama had seven of his first cabinet appointees approved on his first day in office. But Coons said that precedent isn’t “frankly, relevant” to the process when it comes to the Trump cabinet.
“What I think matters is whether or not we have the time to dig into the records and to conduct a fair and full hearing of a broad range of nominees, many of whom have no previous public service or government experience and many of whom don’t have a record of having previously been confirmed by the Senate,” Coons said. “So we will have largely from-the-beginning reviews of who they are.”
Coons arrived in the Senate armed with references to Exxon Mobil deals in Equatorial Guinea and Venezuela, just hours after Trump publicized his choice of Tillerson. Attacking Tillerson for his links to business could invite a reprise of GOP complaints about the Clinton Foundation taking money from foreign governments, but it would also put a spotlight on agreements in which Exxon Mobil’s international development diverged from U.S. foreign policy.
In 2011, for instance, Tillerson brokered an oil deal with Kurdish leaders in northern Iraq, despite tension between the U.S.-backed government in Baghdad and the Kurdish officials who desire to form an independent state.
Coons focused most of his energy on Tillerson’s relationship with the Russian government, particularly an energy deal worth up to $500 billion that was put on hold when the Obama administration and European countries imposed sanctions on the Russian energy sector in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“It troubles me greatly that Mr. Tillerson would have reason to advocate for the rolling back of sanctions because that would be in the best interests of his company, and it is my hope that he is enough of a patriot to be able to separate his decades-long affiliation with this major oil company and the genuine interests of the American people,” Coons said.
Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who served under George W. Bush and President Obama, as well as former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, both of whom represent Exxon Mobil as private consultants, tried to preempt those charges by vouching for Tillerson.
“While Exxon Mobil is one of many clients of RiceHadleyGates Consulting, I met Rex years earlier through our mutual involvement in and leadership of the Boy Scouts of America,” Gates said Tuesday morning. “I know this Eagle Scout will be a global champion for the best values of our country.”
Such endorsements carry some weight with Coons, but it won’t get Tillerson off the hook entirely. “It doesn’t remove my core concern about his relationship with Putin and his actions as CEO of Exxon Mobil,” he said.
Coons couldn’t say specifically what could get him to vote for Trump’s pick.
“We’ll have to see at the time of the hearing what he’s able to advance in terms of his actual views and how they might differ if he were to be secretary of state and advocating for American interests, instead of shareholder interests,” the Delaware Democrat said.
