Letter to the Hon. Lindsey Graham, Chairman of the Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs; the Hon. Patrick Leahy, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs - No Taxpayer Dollars for U.N. Green Climate Fund

Letter

Dear Chairman Graham and Ranking Member Leahy:

As you begin working on the Fiscal Year 2017 Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations bill, we are writing to express opposition to the United Nations Green Climate Fund (GCF). We request that no funds be appropriated for the GCF in the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2017 and language be inserted into the appropriation bill to prohibit any funding from being obligated or transferred to the GCF.

As part of the international climate change conference in Paris, the administration agreed to help raise $100 billion annually in funding for developed nations as part of the GCF. President Obama unilaterally pledged $3 billion in U.S. taxpayer funds to the GCF. In order to meet his promise, President Obama requested $750 million for the fund in the Fiscal Year 2017 budget request.

We stand firmly opposed to taxpayer dollars going to the GCF. Congress has never authorized or specifically approved funding for the GCF. Giving billions of dollars to an international climate fund is a significant waste of American resources. With the United States' national debt exceeding $19 trillion and the difficulty finding resources to make critical investments here at home, we should not be sending taxpayer dollars overseas to international bureaucrats in the name of climate change. For these reasons, we request that you prohibit any funds from being obligated, expended, reprogrammed, or reallocated for the GCF under the Fiscal Year 2017 Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs appropriations bill. In addition, we request that the total amount of funding requested by the Administration for the GCF under the Economic Support Fund be cut to reflect the prohibition on taxpayer money going to this account.

We appreciate your consideration of this request and look forward to working with you on this matter.
Sincerely,