President Obama planning to use Executive Powers for Climate change agreement, bypassing Congress:

 

Convinced that Congress won’t go along with a sweeping international climate change agreement, the Obama administration is plotting an end run.

The president is planning to use his executive powers to avoid needing ratification from Congress on a deal that would compel nations to cut fossil fuel emissions, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

The agreement is expected to be signed in 2015 at a United Nations summit in Paris.

The U.S. Constitution requires a two-thirds majority approval from the Senate before a president can enter into a legally binding treaty.

Obama’s climate experts are working on a “politically binding” deal that would be added to a 1992 international climate change treaty. The pact would “name and shame” countries that don’t follow through on pledges to cut emissions.

The White House believes such an agreement would not need the 67 Senate votes.

Republican lawmakers, many of whom have doubts about the science behind global warming, are already raising a fuss over Obama’s plan.

“Unfortunately, this would be just another of many examples of the Obama administration’s tendency to abide by laws that it likes and to disregard laws it doesn’t like — and to ignore the elected representatives of the people when they don’t agree,” said Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ken.) in a statement.