Now Republicans are targeting John Kerry and his alleged ties to China
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Now Republicans target John Kerry and his alleged ties to China: GOP caucus demands Biden’s climate envoy renounce any negotiations with Beijing’s communist party
- Committee chairman James Comer, R-Ky., wrote to Kerry Thursday afternoon to say that his climate talks with the CCP would now come under scrutiny.
- “To date, you have not responded to any of our requests,” Comer wrote to Kerry.
- The letter notes that a May 2022 report says that Kerry says he was in negotiations with the CCP to form a group to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
House Oversight Republicans are now setting their sights on President Biden’s climate envoy John Kerry’s negotiations with China.
Committee chairman James Comer, R-Ky., wrote to Kerry Thursday afternoon to say that his climate talks with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) would now come under scrutiny.
Comer said the committee had requested details of Kerry’s communications at the last Congress only to be silenced, and now it was trying again with majority support.
“To date, you have not responded to any of our requests,” Comer wrote to Kerry. “Yet he continues to engage in activities that could undermine our economic health, circumvent the authority of Congress, and threaten foreign policy under the guise of climate advocacy.”
House Oversight Republicans are now setting their sights on President Biden’s climate envoy John Kerry’s negotiations with China.
The letter notes that a May 2022 AP report says Kerry says he was in negotiations with the CCP to form a group to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Comer also said that Kerry had “continued to downplay the CCP’s human rights violations and its antagonism against the US while promoting climate negotiations that the CCP doesn’t even seem interested in participating in.”
“While the Department does not comment on congressional inquiries, it works to appropriately accommodate such requests,” a State Department spokesperson told DailyMail.com of the investigation.
“Separately, the Office of the Presidential Climate Envoy has and will continue to engage members of Congress in international efforts to combat the climate crisis.”
Biden named Kerry his Special Presidential Envoy on Climate, a cabinet-level position that did not require Senate approval, just after taking office in 2021. The role also gives Kerry a seat on the National Security Council. of the president.
In April 2021, Kerry became the first senior Biden official to visit China.
With the new position, Kerry hired a staff of 45 who operates under the State Department and has an estimated budget of $13.9 million.
The letter notes that a May 2022 report says that Kerry says he was in negotiations with the CCP to form a group to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Kerry and his staff are in charge of global climate affairs, while another team, the Office of Climate Policy led by Ali Zaidi, is in charge of national climate policy. Biden also relies on senior adviser for clean energy innovation and implementation, John Podesta, for domestic climate issues.
Last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland Kerry said that thawing tensions between the United States and China could be key to preventing a climate emergency.
“We are very hopeful that we can find our way to a breakthrough that can make a big difference,” Kerry said.
China ended cooperation with the United States on drug trafficking and climate change last summer after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a trip to Taiwan. She reopened the talks following a meeting between Biden and President Xi Jinping late last year.
China is responsible for about a third of the world’s greenhouse gases, according to the World Bank.