GOP senator ‘disappointed’ Trump withdrawing from climate deal

Republican Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) criticized President Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord on Thursday, saying she was “disappointed” by the move.

“Climate change requires a global approach. I’m disappointed in the President’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement,” she tweeted.

Climate change requires a global approach. I’m disappointed in the President’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement #mepolitics

— Sen. Susan Collins (@SenatorCollins) June 1, 2017 

Collins sent a letter earlier this month urging the Trump administration to stay in the agreement. She is one of at least three GOP senators who have supported staying in the accord, along with Sens. Bob Corker (Tenn.) and Lindsey Graham (S.C.).

{mosads}

Trump announced Thursday that his administration would withdraw from the Paris climate deal during a speech in the White House Rose Garden, saying the Obama-era deal was “very unfair at the highest level to the United States.”

Many Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), praised Trump’s decision, with McConnell likening it to Trump delivering “yet another significant blow to the Obama administration’s assault on domestic energy production and jobs.”

Obama slammed the decision in a statement, saying Trump would “reject the future” by pulling out of the pact negotiated under his administration with nearly 200 countries in 2015.

“The nations that remain in the Paris Agreement will be the nations that reap the benefits in jobs and industries created,” Obama said. “I believe the United States of America should be at the front of the pack.”

Obama and former Secretary of State John Kerry called for cities and states to take the lead on combatting climate change in the wake of the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from the Paris accord.