Kerry: Cancun shows U.S. should 'get back in the game' on climate

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) said Sunday that the modest international climate change agreement signed in Cancun, Mexico, this weekend is a reminder that the United States must “get back in the game” to reduce its domestic greenhouse gas emissions.

Kerry, who co-authored a climate bill that stalled in the Senate this year, said last week that he expects a “huge energy debate” in the Senate early next year.

In a statement on the Cancun climate talks Sunday, he called on his colleagues to reject efforts by Republicans and some Democrats to block the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. Republicans have vowed to target that agency, and Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) has proposed a two-year delay of EPA’s climate authority.

Kerry also said lawmakers should “make sure that climate policy is shaped by science, not political games.” The comment comes as a number of House Republicans, who are preparing to take over the chamber next year, have said they would like to see hearings on climate science.

“The United States needs to get back in the game today instead of being held back by obstructionism and broken politics at home, which have hurt us not just in the race to address climate change, but which have set us back in the race to define the clean-energy economy and all the good jobs that come with it,” Kerry said in a statement.