http://canadafreepress.com/article/77143Republicans warn Obama: No global warming money if he end-runs Congress
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By Dan Calabrese -- November 30, 2015
Just in case you were under the impression Obama is merely wasting time at the UN Climate Conference in Paris, no, he’s looking to waste a fair amount of U.S. taxpayer money too - with $3 billion set to directly from the U.S. Treasury to the UN Green Climate Fund. Now you might remember that whole thing about how Congress controls the purse strings, which somehow never seems to stop Obama from spending as much as he wants however he wants regardless of congressional disapproval.
This time, Republicans swear, things are going to be different:
Looking for leverage, critics of the president’s climate agenda have zeroed in on the president’s goal of directing $3 billion – including $500 million in the near-term – for the U.N. Green Climate Fund, which would help developing nations deal with climate change.
Ahead of the president’s trip, dozens of lawmakers warned the president: No vote, no money.
“Without Senate approval, there will be no money – period,” Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said at a hearing last week, stressing that any agreement with legally binding requirements must come before the Senate for a vote.
He and Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, sent a letter to Obama signed by more than three-dozen senators likewise urging the president to have his special envoy relay to developing nations’ representatives that Congress “will not be forthcoming” with the Green Climate Fund money absent a Senate vote.
In addition, Inhofe joined Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Republican Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri in introducing a resolution calling for the Senate to have a say in any climate agreement.
Republicans generally argue that any deal with legally binding elements should be handled like a treaty, and subject to Senate ratification. The Obama administration, though, has given varying statements on how it views any potential pact.
Secretary of State John Kerry rattled European officials when he was quoted earlier this month in the Financial Times saying any agreement was “definitively not going to be a treaty.” French President Hollande bristled at the notion that a deal would not be legally binding and was quoted saying if that’s the case, “there won’t be an agreement.”
You have to love the Obama Administration’s approach to international agreements. Is it a treaty? Well, not if that means the Senate has to ratify it. Is it legally binding? Well, only the parts that don’t require Obama to respect the constitutional limits on his office.
As he did with the Iraq nuclear deal, Kerry is insisting this agreement will not be a treaty simply because he knows the Senate would never ratify it. That irritates fellow socialists like Hollande who realizes the U.S. could back out of it at any time, and almost certainly would if the next president is a Republican.
But the more immediate question is this: Would Republicans really stand up to Obama and refuse to fund his contribution to the Green Climate Fund? Usually when Obama wants something and the Republican Congress doesn’t want to give it to him, Obama decides to play chicken and take things straight to a government shutdown unless Congress capitulates. He does this because he knows full well that his media servants will push the narrative that Republicans are once again trying to shut down the government over some petty disagreement with Obama. He also knows full well that Mitch McConnell has the spine of a jellyfish and can usually be counted on to quickly wave the white flag lest he endure the second kick of a mule or something.
But would the same dynamic apply here? I’ve believe all along that Republicans can win these showdowns if they simply resolve to fight on the merits of the issues. And however much the Democrats and the media want the “fight against climate change” to be a mainstream imperative, the public isn’t buying it and never has. If ever there was a battle Republicans could win on the merits, it has to be the pissing away of $3 billion U.S. dollars for this kind of nonsense.
Even so, Sen. Inhofe’s expressed determination notwithstanding, it’s hard to believe Republicans really mean it this time. I want to believe. I really do. But Lucy can always be counted on to pull that football away.
