Senate Republicans will prod the administration over any deal that emerges from the Paris climate change talks later this month, releasing a comprehensive battle plan Tuesday that outlines the faults of President Obama’s “futile and costly” effort, according to a senior Republican.
“As the president urges action to fulfill his personal climate legacy in Paris, the American people and their representatives in Congress have strongly voiced opposition to any deal that is reached and will not tolerate American tax dollars being used for an economically disastrous policy,” said Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee with direct oversight of federal climate regulations.
Inhofe issued a document Tuesday that “brings to light the Obama administration’s futile and costly efforts to bind the United States to an international climate agreement,” he said.
The paper is being issued to inform the public and the international community by providing them with “a comprehensive tool to take a closer look at the president’s radical climate agenda,” he said.
Inhofe said he will hold oversight hearings after the climate talks, where he will press administration witnesses on the cost of signing onto any international agreement. A sticking point with the GOP has been the tens of billions of dollars that the U.S. and other nations would have to contribute under an agreement to support developing nations preparing for the effects of climate change.
Many scientists believe increased greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels is causing the Earth’s climate to warm, resulting in ocean acidification, droughts, floods, global strife and even war.
“I look forward to reviewing what deal emerges from [the United Nations talks in Paris], and plan to invite administration officials to testify before the Senate EPW Committee on what was accomplished at the expense of American tax dollars,” he said. The GOP is looking to block the funds the administration needs to fulfill its obligations under any negotiated climate deal. Negotiations end Dec. 11, with nearly 200 countries participating.
One of the issues the document digs into is the U.S.’s proposed commitment to reducing emissions 26-28 percent in about a decade, which Inhofe says “doesn’t even add up to what it claims, and will not add up to achieve any measurable impact on curbing global temperatures or curtailing global warming.”
Even environmental groups are doubtful the reductions can happen in that timeframe, saying none of the regulations the administration uses to form the basis of the reductions will get the nation there.
Republicans argue that the regulations, including controversial power plant rules, will drive up costs for Americans while providing none of the climate change benefits the president has heralded.
The president was in Paris on Monday to press the U.S.’s commitment to reaching a climate deal by the end of next week. Inhofe and a group of senators introduced a non-binding resolution that says the U.S. cannot sign onto any deal with the consent of Congress. Congress would not likely approve any interntional deal if it were made subject to a vote.
Separate resolutions passed by Congress that would repeal the president’s climate rules for power plants, which form the basis of his U.N. obligations, will be sent to the president, which he will veto.
