The recent inclusion of the “State of Palestine” into the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change precludes the United States from providing any funding to the body or any of its related entities, a group of 28 Republican senators said Monday in a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry.
Palestine was inducted in to the UNFCCC in mid-March, becoming the 197th member of the U.N. body. “In 1994, Congress passed and the President signed into law a prohibition on the distribution of U.S. taxpayer funds to ‘any affiliated organization of the United Nations which grants full membership as a state to any organization or group that does not have the internationally recognized attributes of statehood,’” the GOP letter says. The U.S. does not recognize Palestine statehood.
Under this law, the senators argue, the U.S. cannot provide any funding to the UNFCCC Secretariat, the Green Climate Fund, the Conference of the Parties (COP), or the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP). “We request that you ensure that no disbursements of U.S. funds are made to the UNFCCC and its related entities after March 17, 2016. We believe that your failure to do so will constitute a violation of current law,” the letter says.
The U.S. made a $500,000 contribution to the Green Climate Fund in early March.
The group of Republican senators is led by Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), joined by Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), David Vitter (R-La.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Dan Coats (R-Ind.), Thom Tillis (R-S.C.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Johnny Isakson (R-Ga), Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), John Cornyn (R-Texas,) Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
