{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://www.barrasso.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ID=04b56b76-4198-48a4-a79a-099c53f03339", "Barrasso to International Climate Czars: No Vote, No Money", "2015-11-18", "2015", "2015-11", "Republican", "House", "WY", "John Barrasso", "B001261", "www.barrasso.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C. Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) delivered the following remarks at todays Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on the upcoming international climate negotiations in Paris.\r\nTranscript of Senator Barrassos Remarks:\r\nIf there is one message that I would like to send to the international community ahead of the international climate change conference, it is this: without Senate approval, there will be no money.\r\nSecretary Kerry says that a treaty requiring Senate approval will not emerge from the international climate talks.\r\nThis is despite the fact that the State Department is pushing for parts of the agreement to be legally binding on the United States.\r\nOn November 13, the State Department stated Our position has not changed: the U.S. is pressing for an agreement that contains provisions both legally binding and non-legally binding.\r\nAny agreement reached in Paris that contains legally binding requirements on the American people must come to the Senate for a vote.\r\nThis isnt only the right thing to do, it is also what the Constitution requires.\r\nAs we know, the United Nations Green Climate Fund was proposed during the 2009 Conference of Parties in Copenhagen, Denmark.\r\nThe fund facilitates a giant wealth transfer of taxpayer dollars from developed nations to developing nations to help them adapt to climate change.\r\nCongress has never authorized funding the Green Climate Fund.\r\nThe United States and other developed nations have pledged approximately $10 billion for the initial capitalization of the fund, with the goal of raising $100 billion annually.\r\nThats right, most people think thats a misprint, but its truea $100 billion annually is what theyre talking about.\r\nOn November 15 of last year, the Obama administration pledged $3 billion in U.S. taxpayer funds over four years during the G-20 meetings in Australia.\r\nThe administration's FY2016 budget request asked for $500 million for the fund.\r\nWe cannot support providing taxpayer dollars to this fund if Congress does not get approval of an agreement.\r\nSo I want to make it clear to the administration, as well as to foreign diplomats across the globe who are looking for U.S. dollars, which is the lynchpin of this conference without Senate approval, there will be no money. Period.\r\nI and many of my colleagues will be sending the President a letter stating that very soon. Weve circulated a copy of the letter\r\nNOTE: The Barrasso-Inhofe letter mentioned above is still being circulated for signatures. To read the text in advance click here.\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "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": ["http://www.barrasso.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ID=04b56b76-4198-48a4-a79a-099c53f03339"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.7749168910086155, "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"}