Senators are also introducing the Executive Branch Emissions Transparency Act to hold administration accountable for travel, emissions contributions while waging war on American energy
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, joined Senators Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) to expose how the Biden administration is greenlighting bureaucrats’ burning fossil fuels to jet off to climate conferences around the world while waging a relentless war on American-made energy at home.
The senators previously requested the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) to calculate the greenhouse gases emitted from the Biden administration’s travel to the United Nation’s climate conference last year. They released the findings of this report today, which revealed that even though President Biden signed an executive order requiring agencies to track and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from travel, GAO reports the State Department still does “not have a systematic way to calculate greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. delegation travel.”
Taking action in response to the report, Capito, Ernst, and Cotton are introducing the Executive Branch Emissions Transparency Act to calculate the future use of the fossil fuels emitted by the travels of the president, his climate czar John Kerry, and the rest of Biden administration.
“Americans are tired of bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. who don’t practice what they preach when it comes to protecting the environment,” Ranking Member Capito said. “In the Biden administration, the same people who are closing down power plants across the country and forcing Americans to buy electric vehicles are also the ones flying to climate conferences and using fossil fuels without apology. I’m proud to join Senator Ernst in continuing our push for accountability and stand up for those who are understandably frustrated by the hypocrisy we’ve seen time and time again.”
“The gas is always greener when you’re burning fossil fuels in the name of saving the planet,” Senator Ernst said. “While giving lip service to greenies, Biden bureaucrats are blatantly emitting the greenhouse gases they demonize. The double standard is clear, and Americans have had enough of this hot air. It’s time for Biden bureaucrats to face the facts: according to their own actions, American-made fossil fuels are not the enemy. I am committed to exposing this hypocrisy.”
“Joe Biden and his officials say they are addressing an ‘existential’ crisis by participating in climate conferences, all while traveling on private jets to and from the conferences. The Biden administration should instead focus its efforts on American energy production—or at the very least, let American taxpayers know about the private travel they are paying for,” Senator Cotton said.
The Biden administration’s excessive fossil fuel usage in the name of “saving” the planet is growing, and it doesn’t stop at the UN climate conference. For example:
- Last year, the president’s official Climate Envoy John Kerry led a delegation of 259 officials from 17 different agencies and offices that traveled (via plane) to Egypt, where they ironically “launched the Net-Zero Government Initiative, inviting governments to lead by example and achieve net-zero emissions from national government operations.”
- Kerry also flew to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January, stating “it was truly extraordinary” to be part of a “select group of human beings … able to sit in a room and come together and actually talk about saving the planet.”
- In April, Kerry was jetted off to Japan to attend the G7 Ministers’ Meeting on Climate, Energy, and Environment.
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