On Wednesday, over two dozen Republicans in the House of Representatives introduced a bill that would cut all funding for John Kerry’s newly-established “climate envoy” office at the State Department.
As Fox News reports, the No Taxpayer Funding for Climate Zealots Advancing Radical Schemes Act would forbid the use of any federal funds from being appropriated for the purpose of funding Kerry’s office, including for such purposes as travel, administrative, and salary expenses. Biden first created the office specifically for Kerry in 2021; despite not requiring any confirmation by the Senate, the post nonetheless allows Kerry to partake in meetings of both the Cabinet and the National Security Council.
“Climate czar John Kerry is the poster child for the Biden administration’s anti-energy policies that are destroying both our economy and national security,” said Congressman Chip Roy (R-Texas), one of the Republicans who sponsored the bill. “Now John Kerry is visiting China — the top threat to our national security and the world’s number one polluter — to further hamstring energy freedom.”
“It’s time to defund anti-energy climate bureaucrats like John Kerry once and for all,” Roy added.
Despite having an annual budget of at least $13.9 million and a staff of 45, Kerry’s office has refused to disclose the nature of any of its operations or personnel, even after numerous Republican demands for greater transparency. During congressional testimony last week, Kerry refused to name any of his employees after being questioned on the matter by Congressman Brian Mast (R-Fla.).
“I’m not going to fill them in here in this way, because that would be a violation of our process within the State Department,” said Kerry. “I’m not going to go through them by name because that is not the required process of the State Department.”
Kerry has faced additional criticism for the extensive travel he does all around the world as part of his job, always traveling by way of private jet; critics say that this only leads to more environmental pollution, thus making Kerry a hypocrite.
Others have suggested that the position was created simply for the purpose of giving Kerry a job, as he has often been a favorite of the Democratic Party establishment. As a nearly three-decade senator from the state of Massachusetts, Kerry was the Democratic nominee for President in 2004, narrowly losing to George W. Bush. He then left the Senate to serve as Secretary of State during Barack Obama’s second term; when Obama’s presidency came to an end, Kerry remained outside of political office for the entirety of the Trump Administration, before his climate envoy position was created on the first day of the Biden Administration.
The full list of the bill’s GOP sponsors is as follows: Aaron Bean (R-Fla.), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Dan Bishop (R-N.C.), Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.), Bob Good (R-Va.), Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.), Nick Langworthy (R-N.Y.), Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Mary Miller (R-Ill.), Alex Mooney (R-W.V.), Nathaniel Moran (R-Texas), Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.), Scott Perry (R-Penn.), Bill Posey (R-Fla.), Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.), Chip Roy (R-Texas), Tom Tiffany (R-Wisc.), William Timmons (R-S.C.), Randy Weber (R-Texas), and Daniel Webster (R-Fla.).