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   From: doper-obama@thinkprogress.org   
      
   President Obama reportedly plans to do an end-run around   
   Congress to forge an international climate change deal,   
   effectively bypassing the Constitution's requirement to get the   
   Senate's approval for a treaty.   
      
   The New York Times reported that the agreement is slated to be   
   signed at a United Nations meeting next year in Paris. However,   
   because the U.S. Senate is unlikely to ratify any international   
   climate treaty, Obama’s negotiators reportedly are working   
   toward an alternative agreement – a “politically binding” deal   
   that would serve in lieu of a bona-fide treaty.   
      
   One expert with the Natural Resources Defense Council told the   
   Times “there’s some legal and political magic to this.”   
      
   The developments underscore the administration’s dim chances of   
   being able to rally the constitutionally mandated two-thirds   
   majority in the Senate to ratify a new international treaty. But   
   at a time when the House already is suing the president over his   
   alleged abuse of executive power, the move to go around Congress   
   is likely to strike a nerve with lawmakers.   
      
   State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki downplayed the reported   
   developments in a statement on Wednesday.   
      
   "Not a word of the new climate agreement currently under   
   discussion has been written, so it is entirely premature to say   
   whether it will or won't require Senate approval," she said.   
   "Our goal is to negotiate a successful and effective global   
   climate agreement that can help address this pressing challenge.   
   Anything that is eventually negotiated and that should go to the   
   Senate will go to the Senate. We will continue to consult with   
   Congress on this important issue."   
      
   The Times reported that while the agreement would not have the   
   full force of a treaty, it would “name and shame” countries into   
   cutting fossil fuel emissions.   
      
   The proposal was described as a hybrid – combining the legally   
   binding conditions from an existing 1992 treaty with “new   
   voluntary pledges.”   
      
   By doing so, negotiators reportedly claim the new agreement   
   would not require a ratification vote.   
      
   Under the terms, co-signers would have to enact climate change   
   policies but would be on the honor system for cutting to   
   specific emissions levels and sending money to poor countries.   
      
   Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., said in a statement Wednesday that   
   the report shows Obama has "given up on his dream of enacting an   
   internationally binding global warming treaty," reiterating that   
   the Senate would not ratify such a treaty.   
      
   He added: "We will continue to fight the president's economy   
   crushing domestic greenhouse gas regulations. U.S. economic   
   competitiveness is hanging in the balance, and additional U.S.   
   restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions will only hurt the   
   United States as other nations like Australia either scrap or   
   water down their unsuccessful green dream policies."   
      
   http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/08/27/obama-reportedly-   
   plotting-end-run-around-congress-on-global-climate-change-   
   deal/?intcmp=trending   
      
         
      
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