{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.lee.senate.gov/2026/8/lee-colleagues-call-for-investigation-of-california-s-climate-pacts-with-china", "Lee, Colleagues Call for Investigation of California\u2019s Climate Pacts with China", "2026-08-20", "2026", "2026-08", "Republican", "Senate", "UT", "Mike Lee", "L000577", "www.lee.senate.gov", "mikelee", "https://www.lee.senate.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) joined Senators Rick Scott (R-FL), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and Congresswoman Young Kim (R-CA-39) to call for an investigation into the state of California\u2019s numerous climate agreements with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The members of Congress penned a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Attorney General Todd Blanche outlining California\u2019s inappropriate climate agreements with China.\n\n\u201cIf Governor Newsom would like to assume foreign affairs authorities constitutionally vested in the federal government, that option, however quixotic, ill-conceived, and downright laughable, is theoretically available to him. As it stands, however, he is likely violating the Constitution, serving as China\u2019s useful pawn while destroying the pocketbooks of millions of hardworking Americans,\u201d wrote the members of Congress.\n\nBackground\n\nThe Compact Clause of the Constitution gives the federal government authority over foreign affairs, and the Supreme Court has upheld that even state action with a mere \"direct impact upon foreign relations\"[1]may be unconstitutional. Despite this, California has an extensive history of circumventing Congressional approval and entering into agreements with CCP conduits, including:\n\nCalifornia China Climate Institute\n\nFounded in 2019 by Governor Jerry Brown and the CCP\u2019s longtime global climate envoy, Xie Zhenhua, the goal was to shape U.S. and subnational climate policy and advance the goals of the Paris Agreement. The California China Climate Institute was codified into law by Governor Newsom.\n\nChina-U.S. ZEV Policy Lab\n\nAgreed upon by the University of California-Davis and the China Automotive Technology and Research Center, the China-U.S. ZEV Policy Lab committed both sides to speed the commercialization of electric cars.\n\nRead the full letter here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-08-21T05:30:57Z", "2026-08-21T05:32:22Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.lee.senate.gov/2026/8/lee-colleagues-call-for-investigation-of-california-s-climate-pacts-with-china"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.907866982743144, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}