GOP seeks oversight hearing with Kerry on climate diplomacy 

Two key Republicans on the House Oversight Committee are seeking a hearing with Climate Envoy John Kerry to examine his diplomacy at the recent COP26 climate conference. 

It’s a hearing they’re unlikely to get for now — as the minority party cannot set congressional hearings. But the request gives a window to an area of inquiry they could pursue if they retake the House in 2022. 

“Given recent U.S. emissions commitments to world leaders authorized and given by Mr. Kerry, this Committee must be afforded the opportunity to examine the intricacies of Mr. Kerry’s dealings.” wrote Reps. James Comer (Ky.) and Ralph Norman (S.C.), the top Republicans on the Oversight committee and its environment subcommittee respectively. 

The pair also wrote in their Thursday letter that they’d like to examine the effect of the administration’s climate policies on the economy. 

While at the global climate summit, Kerry and other U.S officials worked to reach a deal, which ultimately called for global emissions to be cut 45 percent by 2030, scaling down use of coal and phasing out fossil fuel subsidies. 

Meanwhile, President Biden has separately committed to cutting global emissions at least in half by 2030. 

Responding to the Republicans’ letter, Democrats said they’re focused on tackling climate change, and characterized the GOP push as an attempt to score “political points.” 

“Addressing the climate crisis is a top priority for Democrats on the Oversight Committee, which is why we launched a major investigation into the role of the fossil fuel industry in fueling this crisis,” a committee spokesperson said via email. 

“It is unfortunate that our Republican colleagues seem more interested in scoring political points than addressing the grave threat climate change poses to our national security,” the spokesperson added.

The spokesperson noted that the last time Kerry testified before the Oversight Committee, Republicans attached him and called his climate change warnings “alarmist.”

The Hill has reached out to Kerry’s office for comment on the GOP letter. 

The Democrat-led committee recently held a high profile hearing examining the extent to which the oil industry played a role in climate change disinformation. That hearing is apparently part of an ongoing investigation for which committee chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) recently issued subpoenas. 

In their new letter, Comer and Norman called for the committee to focus instead on government policy. 

“We encourage Committee Democrats to stop the streak of failed oversight hearings that have either attacked the American oil and gas industry or featured witnesses from outside the government,” they wrote. 

“Instead, the Committee should hold a substantive  hearing with a senior administration official to actually conduct real oversight over those with the ability to set policy.”