Senator Vitter Introduces Bill To Enforce Law and Stop Funding of UNFCCC and Green Climate Fund

Senator David Vitter (R-La.) on 12th May introduced a bill, S. 2930, to ensure that federal funding of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) complies with federal law.  The law in question is Public Law 104-246, the Foreign Relations Authorization Act of 1994.  That law prohibits the State Department from funding any UN specialized agency or affiliated organization that accepts Palestine as a full member.  Palestine was accepted as a full member of the UNFCCC on 18th December 2015 and became a full member 90 days later on 17th March.

As I reported in an earlier Cooler Heads Digest article, the State Department replied to a letter signed by Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and 27 other Senators that it wasn’t going to pay any attention to the law and the Obama Administration would continue to fund the UNFCCC.  The introduction of S. 2930 is only the first step in what is likely going to be a long effort by the Congress to force compliance and defund the UNFCCC, which includes the Green Climate Fund.  The bill has two original co-sponsors: Senator James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee; and Senator Barrasso, chairman of the Foreign Relations subcommittee with jurisdiction over the UNFCCC.