McConnell warns countries against UN climate plan

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told foreign countries to think twice before entering into the United Nations’ climate pact.

McConnell’s statement came after the Obama administration submitted its plan to cut the United States’ greenhouse gases as much as 28 percent as part of the international agreement.

{mosads}He called President Obama’s submission “job-killing and likely illegal,” and said that one of the main pillars of the United States’ commitment — the Environmental Protection Agency’s climate rule for power plants — is at risk since Congress and the Supreme Court have not weighed in on it.

“Considering that two-thirds of the U.S. federal government hasn’t even signed off on the Clean Power Plan and 13 states have already pledged to fight it, our international partners should proceed with caution before entering into a binding, unattainable deal,” McConnell said in a Tuesday statement.

McConnell has similarly warned states against complying with the EPA’s climate rule, saying it’s illegal and states should not enable the rule.

The Sierra Club accused McConnell of trying to undermine the international negotiation and compared him to Senate Republicans who wrote a letter to Iran to undermine nuclear talks with that country.

“Mitch McConnell has evidently stolen Tom Cotton’s playbook for undermining American leadership in the face of international crises,” John Coequyt, director of the group’s climate programs, said in a statement.

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) also blasted the Obama administration’s commitment.

“The Obama administration’s pledge to the United Nations today will not see the light of day with the 114th Congress,” he said in a statement.