McConnell: Obama's Congressional Bypass with UN Treaty 'Does Serious Damage' to 'Rule of Law'

on Wed, 27 Aug 2014

President Barack Obama’s move to bypass Congress with a new United Nations climate treaty “does serious damage to the rule of law” in America, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told Breitbart News.

“Unfortunately, this would be just another of many examples of the Obama administration's tendency to abide by laws it likes and to disregard laws it doesn't — and to ignore the elected representatives of the people when they don’t agree,” McConnell said in an emailed statement. “Whether it's releasing terrorists from Guantanamo, hurting the economy and jobs with their unilateral EPA regulations, ‘recess’ appointments or Obamacare, this troubling approach does serious damage to the rule of law.”

The Obama administration is seeking to enact what The New York Times called “a sweeping international climate change agreement to compel nations to cut their planet-warming fossil fuel emissions,” without congressional approval.

“If you want a deal that includes all the major emitters, including the U.S., you cannot realistically pursue a legally binding treaty at this time,” Paul Bledsoe, a Clinton administration climate official, whom The New York Times says “works closely with the Obama White House on international climate change policy,” told theTimes.

The treaty would be politically toxic, the Timesargues, so Obama is just bypassing Congress to target energy industries worldwide. “Lawmakers in both parties on Capitol Hill say there is no chance that the currently gridlocked Senate will ratify a climate change treaty in the near future,”the Times’ Coral Davenport wrote, adding that that’s “especially” because GOP lawmakers “remain skeptical of the established science of human-caused global warming.”

Obama has made bypassing Congress to go it alone a centerpiece of his administration. He didn’t seek congressional authorization to militarily strike Libya, he’s enacted an executive amnesty for DREAMer illegal aliens via the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), he’s made unilateral changes to Obamacare through executive power, and is considering bypassing Congress again to expand executive amnesty to upwards of five to six million more illegal aliens, among several other things.

“Today’s New York Times story shows that the President has already given up on his dream of enacting an internationally binding global warming treaty,” Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), a hawk against liberal climate politics, said in a statement. He added:

The Senate will not ratify a treaty that binds the United States to a regulatory body at the United Nations, and we will continue to fight the President’s economy crushing domestic greenhouse gas regulations. U.S. economic competitiveness is hanging in the balance, and additional U.S. restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions will only hurt the United States as other nations like Australia scrap their unsuccessful green dream policies.

Inhofe added that he believes the President’s planned actions on climate matters at the U.N. would hurt struggling people worldwide.

“Our friends in the developing world need to understand that President Obama's climate regulations are limiting their prosperity,” Inhofe said. Elaborating, he stated:

While U.S. companies are ready to help develop cheap sources of electricity with countries across the world, the President’s policies are forcing these nations to use any aid we deploy on expensive, unreliable forms of renewable electricity. I want to be in the business of helping the poor climb out of poverty, but the President is intent on doubling down on global warming policies that have already demonstrated that they do more harm than good.