Democrats Try to Block Trump’s U.S. Exit From UN Paris Scheme

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After years of playing defense, the “climate cult,” as numerous scientists have described man-made warming theorists, is striking back. Evidently hoping to destroy the U.S. economy and further build up Communist China´s under the guise of stopping “climate change,” Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill this week to ban the use of tax dollars by the Trump administration to withdraw from the United Nations Paris Agreement. In addition to keeping the United States shackled to the UN “global warming” scheme, the “Climate Action Now” Act, known as H.R. 9, would force the White House to develop a plan to massively restrict freedom and prosperity by slashing CO2 emissions. It is widely expected to die in the U.S. Senate. But Republicans In Name Only (RINOs) such as Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) are working to persuade others in the GOP to drink the dangerous climate Kool-Aid and jump on the alarmist bandwagon.

The legislation, passed by the House on Thursday by a vote of 231 to 190, is almost too kooky to be believed. For instance, it begins by listing “findings,” including the notion that the UN Paris scheme would somehow “respect” and “promote” a so-called “right to health.” Clearly, the authors of the bill missed first-grade civics class, as it is impossible to have a “right to health,” unless cancer and other illnesses can be prosecuted for violating said “right.” Then the bill lists all the progressive policies that the Paris Agreement supposedly “requires” Americans to accept. In particular, the legislation claims the UN deal “requires” a plan to drastically slash American emissions of the gas of life, also known as CO2. Human emissions of CO2, of course, make up a fraction of one percent of all the greenhouse gases present naturally in the atmosphere. Countless experts and scientists, meanwhile, have pointed out that the man-made warming hypothesis, which claims CO2 drives climate change, has proven incorrect, and that CO2 is hugely beneficial. Even the UN admits the Paris Agreement would do virtually nothing to stop “climate change.”

The Climate Action Now Act, introduced in March by man-made warming alarmist Representative Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), is based on several easily debunked premises. “On June 1, 2017, President Trump announced his intention to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement, which would leave the United States as the only UNFCCC member state that is not a signatory to the Paris Agreement,” the bill states. That much is true. After all, the Obama administration and the European Union bribed and bullied governments worldwide to sign on. But then come the absurdities in the bill. “Under the terms of the Paris Agreement, the earliest possible effective withdrawal date by the United States is November 4, 2020,” it claims. “However, the United States is still obligated to maintain certain commitments under the Paris Agreement, such as continuing to report its emissions to the United Nations.”

Of course, the Paris Agreement was never ratified by the U.S. Senate. Instead, it was described by the Obama administration as an “executive agreement,” which has no basis in law. Therefore, the scheme has no legal force or effect. Trump could dump it tomorrow if he wanted to. Even if it were ratified by the Senate as required under the Constitution, though, the U.S. government cannot grant itself new unconstitutional powers merely by signing treaties, as the founders and the U.S. Supreme Court have recognized. The bill also points to an executive order by Barack Hussein Obama — an order that has the same level of legitimacy as the Paris Agreement: none — purporting to commit the U.S. government to coercing Americans into reducing CO2 output by 40 percent below 2005 levels by 2025. The bill then refers to Paris Agreement demands that governments provide more “climate change education” (read: indoctrination) to ensure future generations do not realize they have been duped.

Fringe leftists and crony capitalists were thrilled with the passage of the bill. The extremist Center for American Progress, funded by billionaire George Soros and formerly led by infamous “Spirit Cooking” weirdo John Podesta, deployed all of its propaganda capabilities in support. “This vote sends a powerful message that Americans want to build a clean energy economy and lead the fight against climate change,” claimed CAP boss Neera Tanden in a statement. “It has been 10 years since the House last voted on major climate change legislation, and in that time, the impact has become all too clear. Over the warnings of scientists and the wishes of millions of Americans, President Trump and his climate-change denier allies continue prioritizing polluters, sabotaging climate science, and undermining America´s role as a global leader on climate. After this important first step, we look forward to debate by both parties about moving toward a 100 percent clean economy as quickly as possible — because our planet depends on it.”

Countless pseudo-environmentalist groups — some of which have been funded by the Kremlin in Russia to undermine U.S. energy, as Congress revealed in a recent report — celebrated the bill as the first step in revamping the dying “climate” movement. “It´s a simple, and bold, statement of a fundamental change in our country´s direction,” the fringe left-wing group Natural Resources Defense Council, one of many radical organizations that would dismantle industrial civilization if it could, said about H.R 9. “It´s time to stop dismissing climate change as a hoax and to stop rolling back clean car, clean power, and other climate protections already on the books. Instead, it´s time to face the science and lean into the transition to an equitable American economy based on clean energy and pollution-free cars, power plants, industries, and homes.” Note the reference to CO2 — literally the gas exhaled by people and required by plants — as “pollution.”

Democrat leaders in Congress echoed those sentiments. “Climate change is perhaps one of the greatest threats we face as a nation and as a planet, those who deny it do so at great peril to the health, security, and economic prosperity of our country,” argued House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland). “H.R. 9 will not solve climate change. The first step in any journey does not get you there, but without it, you get nowhere. House Democrats are laying down a marker today that we are committed to tackling this challenge with the seriousness it deserves…. America, if it is to be great, must not sit on the sidelines and shrug like Atlas in confronting the rest of the world. We must act on climate change.” By “act” on “climate change,” Hoyer means redistribute more American wealth and further handicap America´s economy, as the UN´s own numbers and data show.

Experts who testified before Congress slammed the kooky efforts to stop the climate from changing by restricting human liberty. Speaking to widely ridiculed socialist Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez´s committee, climate statistician Dr. Caleb Rossiter explained the significance of his efforts. “We are trying to save the people of the planet from the people ´saving the planet,´” he told lawmakers before debunking the increasingly outlandish claims of alarmists about a supposedly looming climate apocalypse. “Extreme weather events such as cyclones, floods, droughts and tornadoes are not increasing in incidence or lives lost. Indeed, the global mortality from all weather-related natural disasters declined by 99 percent while the population trebled after 1920, thanks to improved economies and technologies. Food production and calorie consumption per capita continue to increase, thanks to the green revolution, increased CO2 fertilization and longer growing seasons. Fossil fuels contribute enormously to the production, safe storage and transport of food and thus to human nutrition.”

The non-profit Heartland Institute, a leader in the fight for honesty in climate science, also lashed out at the legislation and the motivations behind it. “Barack Obama never submitted any component of the Paris Climate Accord to the U.S. Senate for treaty ratification because he knew there was no chance the Senate would approve it. Accordingly, it is not binding on President Trump or the American people,” observed James Taylor, a senior fellow for environmental policy at Heartland. “The American people spoke loudly and clearly when they elected Donald Trump president on a climate-realist message. Climate alarmism may play to the strengths of far-left politicians in deep blue House districts, but most Americans do not support a radical and costly climate agenda. Hopefully, House Republicans learned a valuable lesson in the 2018 midterm elections, when Republicans supporting carbon dioxide limitations suffered disproportionate losses compared to Republicans who stood true for sound science and climate realism.”

Democrats have aligned themselves with Big Business and Big Oil on the phony “climate” issue. Indeed, as the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) noted in a report the day before H.R. 9 was passed, massive oil companies are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into lobbying for “climate action.” Other major companies that are working to preserve the sovereignty-shredding, prosperity-killing UN Paris scheme include Adobe, Apple, McDonald´s, Google, eBay, Campbell Soup Company, Levi Strauss, L´Oreal USA, Timberland, Target, Nike, Gap, and many more. The firms, part of a coalition dubbed “We Are Still In,” were brought together by the far-left fringe group CERES. Among other schemes, this outfit works to enlist investors — including major public pension funds such as California´s CalPERS — in the war against human freedom and prosperity masquerading as an effort to fight “climate change.” Critics have suggested those institutions, by squandering investors´ money on phony “green” investments, are not upholding their legally mandated fiduciary responsibilities.

The effort to shackle humanity to a UN “climate” regime suffered a major setback with the 2016 victory of President Trump, who has repeatedly referred to the man-made warming hypothesis as a “hoax.” However, climate alarmists will not give up easily — they have trillions of tax dollars, their credibility, and their precious “global governance” schemes all at stake. But Trump has a trump card, and could blow up the UN Paris Agreement right this moment if he wanted to. It was never legal to begin with. At the moment, the administration is working on a Presidential Commission on Climate Security to re-examine the science, an effort many scientists hope will expose the massive fraud employed by alarmists. But the White House and Congress must continue to hear from concerned Americans on this issue. As H.R. 9 proves, the war between freedom and global tyranny posing as “climate action” is far from over. It may be just beginning.

Alex Newman, a foreign correspondent for The New American, regularly attends UN climate summits, including the COP21 in Paris. He can be reached at [email protected] or through Liberty Sentinel Media. Follow him on Twitter @ALEXNEWMAN_JOU or on Facebook.