The climate change agreement with China that has the United States cutting carbon pollution by an additional 25 percent by 2025 and China capping its carbon pollution by 2030, is being hailed by Democrats in Washington as a ‘game changer’ after the devastating mid-term election results.
The Obama administration is hoping that public sentiment will force Republicans in Congress to approve the agreement or alienate the voter base and lead to a reversal of their current political fortunes. Republicans, on the other hand, are already making the case that the climate change agreement will hurt the economy and cause the loss of even more jobs.
Both John A. Boehner, the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Mitch McConnell, Republican Senator from Kentucky and the next Senate Majority Leader, have already made critical statements about the president’s agreement.
“This announcement is yet another sign that the president intends to double-down on his job-crushing policies no matter how devastating the impact for America’s heartland and the country as a whole,” said Boehner of Ohio to the New York Times.
McConnell said in a statement, “This unrealistic plan, that the president would dump on his successor, would ensure higher utility rates and far fewer jobs.”
This unilateral move by the Obama administration is the clearest sign, yet, that the president is not interested in working with Congress. This plan, in addition to his statements on immigration, have put him in opposition with the incoming Republican-controlled Congress. It's a sign of a more active lame-duck period, at a time when post Whitehouse incumbents prefer to spend time playing golf. Perhaps Obama would also want to do that after checking golf rangefinder reviews.
Climatologists in the United States have hailed the plan as part of an ongoing effort to combat man-made climate change. Paul Higgins, Director of the American Meteorological Society’s Policy Program told Think Progress, “Efforts to reduce U.S. emissions have been blocked, in part, by people who argue that the U.S .should wait for China to act. [The deal] has potential to get us all beyond what has been a major — maybe the major — political challenge for emissions reductions in the U.S.”
The climate change plan has shown a remarkable shift in Chinese attitudes toward climate change and economic expansion.
“China will need to adjust its economic structure, limit its use of coal and scale up non-fossil energy supply,” said Ranping Song, head of the World Resources Institute’s China Climate and Energy Program. “But robust, on-the-ground implementation of those policy options requires strong political will.”