Republicans Probe Podesta's Role as Biden's Climate Diplomat
Source: Bloomberg
March 13, 2024 at 10:00 AM EDT
Congressional Republicans are intensifying their investigation into President Joe Biden’s climate diplomacy, accusing the White House of doing an end-run around a law requiring Senate confirmation of special envoys.
The decision to make John Podesta the country’s chief climate diplomat even though he will remain at the White House and is taking on the duties of a special presidential envoy is a “flagrant attempt to evade” the law, House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer said in a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
At issue is a one-year-old mandate for Senate confirmation of anyone serving as a special envoy or in another position performing similar functions. The requirement never applied to former Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, because he was appointed before it was enacted. Now that Podesta has taken on Kerry’s duties, Comer said, “it is unclear to what extent he will retain the same powers” and the specific details of his relationship with the State Department’s climate envoy office.
The committee is requesting documents that could shed light on Podesta’s role and responsibilities as well as changes in the office’s organization. The effort underscores deep Republican skepticism regarding the work of the US climate envoy, who’s responsible for representing the country in negotiations over Paris Agreement carbon-cutting targets and other multilateral efforts to avert global warming. Podesta, a Democratic strategist and White House veteran who chaired Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, has been working to shepherd the Biden administration’s implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-13/republicans-investigate-john-podesta-s-role-as-biden-s-climate-diplomat?srnd=homepage-americas
= new reply since forum marked as read
GQP are investigating on bullshit using taxpayer's money, but alas claim that the opposition is spending and wasting taxpayer's $$$$$$$.
and his appointees often didn't stay around that long. 
