President Obama’s lead climate change negotiator said House votes opposing emission rules at the center of the administration’s climate strategy are raising questions among countries engaged in climate negotiations in Paris, but not enough to stifle reaching a deal Dec. 11.
“I don’t actually think that has much of an effect here,” Todd Stern told reporters Wednesday. “It produces questions, so I have had countries ask me about [the votes], but what I have said is that the Clean Power Plan rule is going to go forward,” Stern said.
The House passed two resolutions Tuesday opposing the Clean Power Plan and other rules for power plants that the GOP says will raise the cost of energy and reduce the reliability of the electric grid. The Clean Power Plan is the linchpin in meeting commitments the president has made to the United Nations in reaching an emissions deal in Paris. The talks are aimed at securing a deal to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions that many scientists say are causing the Earth’s climate to warm from the burning of fossil fuels.
The Senate passed similar resolutions last month, while threatening to cut off funding for the U.S. portion of a Green Climate Fund under the U.N. emissions plan.
“The president’s not going to accept such resolutions, and we are entirely confident that the Clean Power Plan will go forward. And so, to the extent that I’m asked — I’ve been asked once or twice — I just explain that,” Stern said. The White House has said it will veto the resolutions if they make it to the president’s desk. The resolutions were not passed by a veto-proof majority.
Despite the veto threat, Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said the votes send a clear message that Congress does not support the president’s climate change agenda, “and the international community should take note.”
