IV 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 97 
Expressing the sense of Congress that the President should submit to the 
Senate for advice and consent the climate change agreement proposed 
for adoption at the twenty-first session of the Conference of the Parties 
to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to 
be held in Paris, France from November 30 to December 11, 2015. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 19, 2015 
Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania (for himself, Mr. FLORES, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. 
DUNCAN of South Carolina, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr. 
RIBBLE, Mr. ROE of Tennessee, Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania, Mr. 
ROUZER, Mr. CULBERSON, Mr. FLEMING, Mr. WILSON of South Caro-
lina, Mr. JONES, Mr. DESJARLAIS, Mr. PITTS, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. 
LAMALFA, Mr. LAMBORN, Mr. YODER, Mr. WALBERG, Mr. PITTENGER, 
Mr. CRAMER, Mr. WOODALL, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. GIBBS, Mr. 
WEBER of Texas, Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. PALMER, Mr. ZINKE, 
Mr. SALMON, Mr. POSEY, Mr. RATCLIFFE, Mr. FARENTHOLD, Mr. LONG, 
Mr. MILLER of Florida, Mr. SCHWEIKERT, Mr. BRIDENSTINE, Mr. WIL-
LIAMS, Mr. LUETKEMEYER, Mr. GROTHMAN, Mr. RENACCI, Mr. HEN-
SARLING, Mr. GUTHRIE, Mr. MEADOWS, and Mr. BABIN) submitted the 
following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
Foreign Affairs 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of Congress that the President should 
submit to the Senate for advice and consent the climate 
change agreement proposed for adoption at the twenty- 
first session of the Conference of the Parties to the 
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:23 Nov 20, 2015
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6652
E:\BILLS\HC97.IH
HC97
smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
•HCON 97 IH 
Change, to be held in Paris, France from November 
30 to December 11, 2015. 
Whereas the United States is party to the United Nations 
Framework Convention on Climate Change, with an-
nexes, done at New York, May 9, 1992, and entered into 
force March 21, 1994 (in this resolution referred to as 
the ‘‘Convention’’); 
Whereas the Convention requires the United States to ‘‘adopt 
national policies and take corresponding measures on the 
mitigation of climate change, by limiting its anthropo-
genic emissions of greenhouse gases’’, but does not re-
quire the United States to commit to specific targets or 
timetables for emissions reductions; 
Whereas, during the Convention’s advice and consent process 
in the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate (in 
this resolution referred to as the ‘‘Foreign Relations 
Committee’’) a question arose whether future protocols 
made pursuant to the Convention ‘‘containing targets 
and timetables’’ for emissions reductions should be sub-
mitted to the Senate for advice and consent; 
Whereas in response to the written question submitted by the 
Foreign Relations Committee, ‘‘Would a protocol con-
taining targets and timetables be submitted to the Sen-
ate?’’, the Executive Branch stated, ‘‘If such a protocol 
were negotiated and adopted, and the United States 
wished to become a party, we would expect such a pro-
tocol to be submitted to the Senate.’’; 
Whereas the Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by Sen-
ator Claiborne Pell, issued Executive Report 102–55 re-
garding the Convention, in which it noted ‘‘that a deci-
sion by the Conference of the Parties to adopt targets 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:23 Nov 20, 2015
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HC97.IH
HC97
smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
•HCON 97 IH 
and timetables would have to be submitted to the Senate 
for its advice and consent before the United States could 
deposit its instruments of ratification for such an agree-
ment’’; 
Whereas Executive Report 102–55 further noted ‘‘that a de-
cision by the executive branch to reinterpret the Conven-
tion to apply legally binding targets and timetables for 
reducing emissions of greenhouse gases to the United 
States would alter the ‘shared understanding’ of the Con-
vention between the Senate and the executive branch and 
would therefore require the Senate’s advice and consent’’; 
Whereas, under that ‘‘shared understanding’’ of the Conven-
tion that future agreements made pursuant to the Con-
vention containing targets and timetables for emissions 
reductions would be submitted to the Senate, the Senate 
gave its consent to ratification of the Convention on Oc-
tober 7, 1992; 
Whereas, in December 2011, at the seventeenth session of 
the Conference of the Parties (COP–17) in Durban, 
South Africa, the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban 
Platform for Enhanced Action was established, inter alia, 
‘‘to develop a protocol, another legal instrument or an 
agreed outcome with legal force’’ under the Convention to 
be completed no later than 2015 and adopted at the 
twenty-first session of the Conference of the Parties 
(COP–21); 
Whereas, subsequent to COP–17, representatives of President 
Barack Obama, including the Special Envoy for Climate 
Change, have made public statements indicating that the 
United States intends to finalize a climate change agree-
ment at COP–21 that contains targets and timetables for 
emissions reductions; 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:23 Nov 20, 2015
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HC97.IH
HC97
smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
•HCON 97 IH 
Whereas the Executive Branch has made it clear through its 
public statements that it intends to negotiate a climate 
change agreement at COP–21 that contains legally bind-
ing provisions as well as nonbinding provisions—includ-
ing targets and timetables for emissions reductions—at-
tached as an addendum or schedule to the legally binding 
agreement; 
Whereas the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Laurent 
Fabius, who will host COP–21, has stated, ‘‘We must 
find a formula which is valuable for everybody and valu-
able for the U.S. without going to the Congress.’’; 
Whereas the Department of State developed guidelines known 
as the Circular 175 Procedure (C–175) to facilitate ‘‘the 
application of orderly and uniform measures to the nego-
tiation, conclusion, reporting, publication, and registra-
tion of U.S. treaties and international agreements’’; 
Whereas C–175, inter alia, set forth eight factors for deter-
mining ‘‘whether any international agreement should be 
brought into force as a treaty or as an international 
agreement other than a treaty’’; 
Whereas the Executive Branch must give ‘‘due consideration’’ 
to the eight factors outlined in C–175, and ‘‘the utmost 
care is to be exercised to avoid any invasion or com-
promise of the constitutional powers of the President, the 
Senate, and the Congress as a whole’’; 
Whereas the eight factors are as follows: (1) the extent to 
which the agreement involves commitments or risks af-
fecting the Nation as a whole; (2) whether the agreement 
is intended to affect State laws; (3) whether the agree-
ment can be given effect without the enactment of subse-
quent legislation by the Congress; (4) past United States 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:23 Nov 20, 2015
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HC97.IH
HC97
smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
•HCON 97 IH 
the Convention and set forth in Executive Report 
102–55 remain valid and in force and, accordingly, 
any agreement adopted at COP–21 containing tar-
gets and timetables, whether deemed ‘‘legally bind-
ing’’ or not, must be submitted to the Senate for ad-
vice and consent pursuant to Article II, section 2 of 
the Constitution; 
(2) any agreement or decision made at COP–21 
that contains targets and timetables—whether they 
are contained within a legally binding instrument or 
attached as a nonbinding schedule or addendum to 
a legally binding instrument—shall be considered by 
the Congress to be an agreement ‘‘containing targets 
and timetables’’; 
(3) a decision made by the Executive Branch at 
COP–21 or any other venue to apply targets and 
timetables for reducing emissions of greenhouse 
gases to the United States would alter the ‘‘shared 
understanding’’ of the Convention between the Exec-
utive Branch and the Senate and would therefore re-
quire the Senate’s advice and consent; 
(4) the Department of State developed the 
‘‘Circular 175 Procedure’’ to determine how inter-
national agreements would be negotiated, and the 
eight factors contained in the Procedure strongly 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:23 Nov 20, 2015
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\HC97.IH
HC97
smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
•HCON 97 IH 
support the conclusion that any agreement made 
under the Convention that contains targets and 
timetables for reducing emissions of greenhouse 
gases must be submitted to the Senate for advice 
and consent; 
(5) until all commitments on emissions targets 
and timetables made at COP–21 are submitted to 
the Senate for advice and consent and subsequently 
ratified by the Executive Branch, such commitments 
shall have no effect on the interpretation of the laws 
and international obligations of the United States; 
and 
(6) Congress should refuse to consider any 
budget resolutions and appropriations language that 
include funding for the Green Climate Fund or any 
affiliated body or financing mechanism unless and 
until all agreements on emissions targets and time-
tables reached at COP–21 are submitted to the Sen-
ate for advice and consent. 
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:23 Nov 20, 2015
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\HC97.IH
HC97
smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS