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Senators warn Clinton against helping poor countries fight climate change
Four Senate Republicans are urging the State Department to freeze new funding for international climate change programs, saying the spending should cease to help rein in the deficit.
The lawmakers wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Thursday amid the United Nations's climate change summit in Cancun, Mexico, where climate finance is a key topic.
“As the sixteenth Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is set to enter its second week, we remain opposed to the U.S. commitment to full implementation of the Copenhagen Accord, which will transfer billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars to developing nations in the name of climate change,” states the letter from Sens. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), David Vitter (R-La.) and George Voinovich (R-Ohio).
As part of the “Copenhagen Accord” last year, nations jointly pledged almost $30 billion in “fast start” financing to help developing countries curb emissions and adapt to climate change, with an eventual goal of $100 billion annually for developing nations by 2020.
The letter claims that climate-related U.S. appropriations were $1.3 billion in 2010 and that the White House is seeking $1.9 billion in fiscal year 2011.
“We do not believe that billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars should be transferred to developing countries through unaccountable multilateral or bilateral channels for adaptation, deforestation and other international climate finance programs,” the senators write.
“In the November 2nd election, Americans clearly expressed their concerns about record deficit spending. The U.S. Treasury Department’s Fiscal Year 2010 year-end report showed that the federal deficit hit $1.29 trillion, topping $1 trillion for the second straight year in a row. These deficits are in addition to our existing debt, which is currently at $13.6 trillion. We simply cannot afford any new massive spending programs with such debt owed by America’s future generations,” the letter adds.
