Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) called on the Trump administration yesterday to submit the Paris Climate Agreement to the Senate to be treated as a formal treaty.
In a letter addressed to President Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Sen. Cruz rightly criticized the Obama-Biden administration for bypassing the Senate’s constitutional role in both the Paris Climate Agreement and the Iran Nuclear Deal, writing:
“Multiple previous administrations […] have undermined the Senate’s constitutional role by negotiating significant international agreements and then refusing to submit them to the Senate for its advice and consent. Most recently-and most egregiously-President Obama refused to submit either the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (the ‘Iran Deal’), or the United Nations Paris Climate Agreement (the ‘Paris Agreement’) to the Senate as a treaty.”
Sen. Cruz continued:
“The Obama administration attempted to justify its decision to sideline the Senate by structuring the agreements in a way that allowed it to publicly assert that the agreements were not legally binding and therefore not treaties subject to the Senate’s advice and consent—even though an Obama-era State Department legal memorandum determined the Paris Agreement “does contain legally binding obligations that would apply to the United States,”
Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform, praised Sen. Cruz for calling on the Trump Administration to submit the Paris Agreement as a Treaty.
“Nearly every other country that joined the Paris disaster classified the agreement as a treaty under their own nation’s laws. The United Nations’ own website on climate change describes the Paris Agreement as ‘a legally binding international treaty,’ yet the Obama administration steamrolled the Constitution to avoid a failing vote in the Senate,” said Norquist.
“The Trump administration deserves praise for withdrawing us from the job-killing Paris Agreement,” continued Norquist. “President Trump can further his administration’s cause by submitting the deal as a treaty to the U.S. Senate where it will rightly go to die.”
Americans for Tax Reform urges the Trump administration to submit the Paris Climate Agreement to the U.S. Senate for a vote as a formal treaty and applauds Sen. Cruz’s leadership on the issue.