'SWAMP CONSIDERATIONS'
HOLDING U.S. IN PARIS DEAL While Trump
campaigned against climate agreement, 'those interests are considerable', by
Greg Corombos, 5/19/17, WND
President Trump is
running out of time to make good on his promise to withdraw the United States
from the Paris agreement on climate policy obligations, and the delay is
largely due to many different interests imploring him to back away from his
campaign pledges.
As Trump embarks on an ambitious
eight-day trip to the Middle East and Europe, the pressure is only growing on
him to keep the U.S. committed to the Paris deal. However, Competitive
Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Christopher C. Horner, who served on Trump’s
transition landing team at the Environmental Protection Agency, says all Trump
needs to do is make good on his word.
“We have to go back to the campaign
and remember that a decision was made and it was to get out,” said Horner. “He
gave reasons why. He said this would give others control over our energy use,
how much we could use the things that are reliable and affordable, as well as
the massive wealth transfer. He made the decision.”
The Competitive Enterprise
Institute released
an advertisement last month urging Trump to
stay true to those campaign promises.
What has changed? Horner says a lot
of different interests are pushing him to accept the status quo.
The brakes were put on it because
different influences came into play. There were what I’ll call swamp
considerations, which were not obviously considerations in the campaign. In
fact, he ran against the swamp. Once he got here, those interests are
considerable,” said Horner.
Horner says there is a long list of
people and interests looking to pressure Trump to keep the U.S. in the
agreement.
“(There are) tremendous business
lobbies, tremendous resistance among (the government) holdovers. I could tell
you blow by blow about a lot of these officials as well as some Trump
appointees. But as you also know, some family members are feeling and exerting
what we’ll call Manhattan social pressures to not have to defend keeping this
promise,” said Horner.
Some businesses and industries are
at the forefront of protesting climate-inspired restrictions, but Horner says
much of big business is on board with the climate agenda for multiple reasons.
He says a lot of big companies are eager for the federal subsidies that come
with compliance with the Paris accords.
“The reason is simple. When you rob
Peter to pay Paul, you’re guaranteed Paul’s enthusiastic support and sometimes
it was Paul’s idea. So you’ve got this base of industry support, the ones who
would benefit,” said Horner.
He says those same businesses also
see more restrictive policies as an advantage against the competition.
“They love instituting policies that
are barriers to entry to new participants or that smaller competitors can’t
handle as well. Some businesses were publicly saying in news reports that,
‘We’ve planned for this so we need this to happen,'” said Horner.
Even among Trump’s top diplomats,
there is deep division on the issue.
“The U.N. ambassador, Nikki Haley,
is reportedly very strong on this, even though, as I’ve said before, State will
do what’s in the State Department’s interest and (withdrawing from the accords)
makes Rex Tillerson’s life more difficult and not easier,” said Horner.
Horner also expects Trump’s time in
Europe to be one long lobbying effort to keep the U.S. in the agreement.
“The Group of Seven, the leading
economic nations who want – as a State Department cable that I found in
litigation shows – they want us to share the pain, to relieve the burden of our
competition of not having this agenda saddle our economy,” said Horner.
Published reports suggest multiple
deadlines to make a decision on U.S. involvement in the accords have come and
gone. He says that’s largely because Trump is trying to resist the tide aligned
against his instincts.
“We’ve got it on pretty good
authority what the president still thinks. He wants out and wonders aloud why
he can’t just keep his promise. He’s surrounded by influencers saying, ‘You
can’t do it for the following reasons.’ But some people are saying, ‘You have
to (withdraw) for these reasons, the same reasons you said you would,” said
Horner.
If Trump relents, Horner says
President Obama’s promise that our electricity rates will “necessarily
skyrocket” will come true and the cost of everything related to energy costs
will also shoot up.
“The price will go up, leaving you
with less disposable income and a less resilient lifestyle, less healthy
because you’re less wealthy. There’ll be more hypothermia, more of seniors and
the vulnerable dying from energy poverty. That’s what it’s going to mean for
you,” said Horner.
Horner fears that if Trump was going
to withdraw the U.S. from the agreement, he would have done so already. However,
he is not giving up hope given Trump’s adamant campaign promises.
If Trump doesn’t make good on that
vow, Horner says it will be a strong example of how difficult it is to reverse
the tides in Washington.
“It means the swamp isn’t as easily
defeated as a lot of people hoped,” said Horner. “This is really, so far, the
ultimate test of his battle against the swamp.”
http://www.wnd.com/2017/05/swamp-considerations-holding-u-s-in-paris-deal/
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