Title: To prohibit the use of Federal funds to negotiate or contribute to international agreements that provide for "loss and damage" funds as a result of climate change.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This bill prohibits the expenditure of federal funds to negotiate or contribute to international agreements providing for loss and damage funds as a result of climate change.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9554 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9554

  To prohibit the use of Federal funds to negotiate or contribute to 
international agreements that provide for ``loss and damage'' funds as 
                      a result of climate change.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 14, 2022

  Mr. LaMalfa (for himself, Mrs. Boebert, Mr. McClintock, Mr. Rouzer, 
   Mrs. Hartzler, Mr. Mast, Mr. Jackson, Mr. Bost, Mr. Smith of New 
 Jersey, Mr. Weber of Texas, and Mr. Mooney) introduced the following 
      bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To prohibit the use of Federal funds to negotiate or contribute to 
international agreements that provide for ``loss and damage'' funds as 
                      a result of climate change.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) On November 26th, 2022, the Biden Administration agreed 
        to establish a ``climate justice'' fund which compels United 
        States taxpayers and other wealthy nations to pay developing 
        countries for ``loss and damage'' caused by natural disasters.
            (2) The world's top polluter, China, generated more 
        CO<INF>2</INF> in 2019 than the United States and the next four 
        largest countries combined, and many individual corporations in 
        China have more sway over warming temperatures than most 
        developed countries as a whole.
            (3) Despite being the world's second-largest economy, China 
        is still categorized as a ``developing'' country by the United 
        Nations and enjoys the same differential treatment afforded to 
        nations like Guinea-Bissau and Yemen.
            (4) Other countries the United Nations has identified as 
        ``developing'', and are therefore still eligible for the 
        $1,000,000,000 in United States taxpayer dollars committed by 
        President Biden to the ``Loss and Damage'' fund include the 
        Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Russian Federation, the 
        Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the 
        Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, the 
        Republic of Cuba, and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
            (5) According to a study by Accenture, 93 percent of all 
        large companies with net zero emission commitments have failed 
        to back those pledges, and are larger polluters than most 
        developed nations.
            (6) In December 2009, at the United Nations Climate Change 
        Conference, Todd Stern, President Obama's special envoy for 
        climate change, outright rejected arguments by diplomats from 
        developing nations that the United States owes them hundreds of 
        billions of dollars in reparations for decades of American 
        emissions, stating, ``I actually completely reject the notion 
        of a debt or reparations or anything of the like'', he said.
            (7) President Biden's own climate envoy, John Kerry, was 
        quoted at the COP27 summit on November 12th, 2022, stating, 
        ``It's a well-known fact that the United States and many other 
        countries will not establish . . . some sort of legal structure 
        that is tied to compensation or liability'', yet, a week later, 
        the Biden Administration had caved to activist demands, and 
        Kerry released a statement saying he ``welcomes'' the fund's 
        creation.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON FUNDS TO NEGOTIATE OR CONTRIBUTE TO 
              INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS THAT PROVIDE FOR ``LOSS AND 
              DAMAGE'' FUNDS AS A RESULT OF CLIMATE CHANGE.

    None of the funds available to any Federal department or agency may 
be used to negotiate or contribute to international agreements that 
provide for ``loss and damage'' funds as a result of climate change.
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