The U.S. State Department said Monday it had responded to the demand from nearly 30 Republican senators to withhold all future funding for the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change and associated entities for recognizing Palestine as a state. The department, though, did not discuss details of the response.
“[R]egarding the letter from 28 U.S. senators to Secretary Kerry regarding the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, we can confirm that we received the letter and have responded,” a State Department official said by email. “For comment on the content of the response, we refer you to the appropriate Senate offices.”
Palestine last month became the 197th member of the UNFCCC. In their April 18 letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, the lawmakers cited a 1994 law that bars “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.” Palestine has not received U.S. recognition as a state.
The senators said the prohibition would cover the UNFCCC Secretariat, the Green Climate Fund, and the Conference of the Parties (COP). They said it should take effect as of March 17, the day Palestine was inducted into the UNFCCC.
The letter was signed by Sens. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), 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.).
