Political Quotes

“Madam Chair, I will finish that up. The State Department has a Circular 175, and there are ten opportunities that tell us whether they are an agreement or whether they are a treaty. So let me highlight just four or five of these. Number one, the extent to which the agreement involves commitments or risks affecting the nation as a whole. This obviously impacts everybody across this country, therefore, ratification by the Senate. Whether the agreement is intended to affect State laws. This will bind all State laws, because they have to fulfill the ratification based on that activity. So, therefore, it, once again, has to be a treaty. Whether the agreement can be given effect without the enactment of subsequent legislation by the Congress. This agreement obligates U.S. taxpayer funds to the Green Climate Fund, which is a slush fund, but it still obligates those applications and that money to that fund. Therefore, it must be fulfilled by a treaty. Madam Chair, I ask Members to adopt my amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.”