U.S. Senator Jim Risch, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has joined Senator John Barrasso and 22 other Republican senators in introducing the No Climate Treaties Act. The bill was announced during the same week that the United States formally withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement.
The proposed legislation would require that any international climate agreement, including the Paris Agreement, be treated as a treaty under Article II of the U.S. Constitution. This means such agreements would need approval by a two-thirds majority in the Senate before the United States could join or rejoin them. Additionally, the bill would prohibit federal funds from being used to implement or comply with any international climate agreement lacking this required Senate approval.
Senators supporting the bill include Roger Marshall, Marsha Blackburn, Bill Cassidy, Mike Lee, Rick Scott, Ashley Moody, John Hoeven, John Kennedy, John Cornyn, Tom Cotton, Shelley Moore Capito, Cynthia Lummis, John Boozman, Bill Hagerty, Mike Crapo, Tommy Tuberville, Ted Cruz, Ron Johnson, Tim Sheehy, Roger Wicker, Josh Hawley and Rand Paul.
"Any such climate agreement, including the Paris Agreement, must be treated as a treaty requiring a two-thirds vote in the Senate according to Article II of the Constitution. It would also restrict the use of federal funds to implement or comply with any international climate agreement that has not secured this required Senate approval," according to supporters of the bill.
