Secretary John Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate given a pass to unilaterally set foreign policy??
“We need to meet the threat of climate change with the urgency it demands — and seize the opportunity to build back better. Tune in as I introduce members of my climate team who will get it done….” Biden
“When I went over in the Tank in the Pentagon, when I first was elected vice president, with President Obama, the military sat us down to let us know what the greatest threats facing America were — the greatest physical threats,” Biden said. …And this is not a joke: You know what the joint chiefs told us (when Biden was VP)—the greatest threat facing America was? Global warming,” Biden.
“Climate change does impact, but the president is looking at a much broader angle than I am,” Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a congressional panel Thursday morning. “I’m looking at it from a strictly military standpoint. And from a strictly military standpoint, I’m putting China, Russia up there,”
Today, House Committee on Oversight and Reform Ranking Member James Comer (R-Ky.) and House Committee on the Judiciary Ranking Member Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) sent a letter to Secretary John Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, requesting all documents and communications regarding the role of his cabinet-level position and ability to unilaterally negotiate on behalf of the United States with foreign governments, especially with Communist China.
“We write to you today to request information about your position as Special Presidential Envoy for Climate. Your cabinet-level position, which includes a place on the National Security Council, appears to have an outsized role within the Biden Administration. It appears that in your role, you have some ability to set foreign policy and to bind the United States to international agreements, despite not being confirmed with advice and consent of the Senate,” wrote the lawmakers.
Despite not being confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Secretary Kerry appears to be negotiating with the People’s Republic of China to commit the United States to further reducing greenhouse gas emissions without regard to economic repercussions and a reciprocal agreement from the PRC, the world’s largest polluter. The Biden Administration has already failed to provide Committee Republicans information requested on May 4, 2021 about Secretary Kerry’s security clearance and his possible disclosure of classified information to Iran, raising concerns about a pattern of avoiding Congressional oversight.
“It is of paramount importance that we conduct oversight over your position as the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate and how the position will impact the interests of the United States, especially where the role appears to intersect with the U.S. response to a hostile foreign regime such as the Chinese Communist Party. The American people deserve to understand your role in the government and what authority you have to negotiate with foreign adversaries,” concluded the lawmakers.
On January 20, 2021, John F. Kerry was sworn in as our nation’s first Special Presidential Envoy for Climate and the first-ever Principal to sit on the National Security Council entirely dedicated to climate change. President Biden announced Kerry would have a seat at every table around the world as he combats the climate crisis to meet the existential threat that we face. In recent years, Kerry was the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s first ever Visiting Distinguished Statesman, following his four years as the 68th United States Secretary of State. As America’s top diplomat, he guided the Department’s strategy on nuclear nonproliferation, combating radical extremism, and the threat of climate change. His tenure was marked by the successful negotiation of the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris Climate Agreement.
From 1985 to 2013, he served as a U.S. Senator representing Massachusetts, and was Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2009 to 2013. Secretary Kerry served in the U.S. Navy, completing two combat tours of duty in Vietnam for which he received a Silver Star, a Bronze Star with Combat V, and three Purple Hearts. He received his undergraduate degree from Yale University and his law degree from Boston College Law School. Secretary Kerry is the best-selling author of A Call to Service, This Moment on Earthwith his wife Teresa Heinz Kerry, and his 2018 memoir, Every Day Is Extra, which The New York Times described as “a bittersweet reminder of what the country once demanded of its leaders.” Secretary Kerry was the Democratic Party’s nominee for President of the United States in 2004.