McConnell: US-China deal ‘unrealistic’

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) wasted little time Tuesday night in blasting President Obama’s climate agreement with China as another costly, unpopular environmental move.

“Our economy can’t take the president’s ideological war on coal that will increase the squeeze on middle-class families and struggling miners,” McConnell said in a statement minutes after the White House announced the bilateral deal.

{mosads}“This unrealistic plan, that the president would dump on his successor, would ensure higher utility rates and far fewer jobs,” he said.

The historic, unexpected deal commits each country to far-reaching goals to cap greenhouse gas emissions believed to cause climate change.

The United States set a new goal to cut emissions by up to 28 percent by 2025, while China said its emissions would hit a peak by 2030 and not go higher.

But McConnell sought to paint the deal as another part of an environmental agenda that he said voters rejected in last week’s election.

“The president said his policies were on the ballot, and the American people spoke up against them,” he said.

McConnell, who is set to become majority leader when Republicans take control of the Senate in January, made it clear shortly after the election that he and his colleagues would fight the Obama administration’s environmental policies head-on.