How the US Could Get Climate Safety at Copenhagen Even Without 67 Votes
December 13, 2009 by Susan Kraemer
Filed under Carbon
Could President Obama do an end run round the very high bar of persuading 67 Senators (only 60 of whom are Democrats) to ratify a Copenhagen agreement? The Constitutional requirement to “make Treaties” only with the “Advice and Consent” only when “two thirds of the Senators present concur, ” is a higher bar than almost any other nation has saddled itself with. Is there any alternative?
An interesting idea proposed by the Center for Biological Diversity and Yale 360 suggests that President Obama might be able to avoid the 67 vote problem and thus get real reductions at Copenhagen, by using a “legislative-executive” agreement; like that used to sign NAFTA and the WTO.
Of course this would be political suicide. (Although that might be a secondary consideration for this President; given the ginning-up of murderous threats upon his life by a homicidal opposition). Such an agreement would need only a 51 vote majority in both houses of Congress, instead of 67 Senate votes.
President Obama’s recent use of the Executive Order to compel Federal Agencies to get a 30% reduction by 2020 shows that he is not afraid of this kind of end-run around congress.
