The next great political collision is coming between Obama and ?

By Rob Janicki

Let me set up the scenario of this great political collision.  

The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 21 or CMP 11 will be held in Paris, from November 30 to December 11.  (Remember that end date as it will become a pivotal date as I reveal this scenario.) The upcoming meeting will be the 21st yearly session of the Conference of the Parties to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 11th session of the Meeting of the Parties to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

Now that the scene is set, where will this collision occur and who or what will constitute the opposing  force to President Obama?

The collision will occur in the U.S. Senate between the GOP majority and those sycophants and fellow travelers that dance to the tune played by President Obama.

The basis of the collision will be a treaty of sorts, similar to the Iran Nuclear agreement that the Obama administration negotiated with Iran.  Expect that Obama will have made certain pledges committing the United States to certain and specific actions in support of his claim of global warming as the most pressing issue facing mankind today.  

Remember, if you will, that the Iran nuclear deal was a treaty by all reasonable legal analysis, but was never ratified by the Senate because Obama simply said it was not a treaty and thus beyond the purview of the Senate and its advise and consent role.  The GOP Senate was flummoxed and the nuclear agreement was never ratified and thus should be of no legal standing committing future presidents to abide by this agreement.  Of course, by then, it could be too late for America and the free world, as Iran moves ever closer to developing a function nuclear weapon or multiple nuclear weapons.

Moving on.  Expect Obama to use, or try to use, the very same tactic use in the Iran nuclear deal as he brings home some kind of agreement to reduce greenhouse gases that will encumber the U.S. going forward at some unknown cost.

Here's where the collision will undoubtedly occur.  In this scenario the Senate actually has leverage to potentially stop Obama's action and here it is.

Last year President Obama pledged $3 billion dollars to create a Green Climate Fund to address global warming and possible remediations to the levels of green house gases.  The Senate approved preliminary legislation toward passage of some kind of funding for this project.  This climate fund would simply be a taxpayer supported slush fund for dopey liberal proponents of global warming to spend as they see fit.  Here's the catch.  Any such fund and expenditure to it would have to be approved by Congress in it's legislative role of authorizing any spending bill.

Expect the GOP Senate to withhold the funding of Obama's Green Climate Fund unless he brings any agreement entered into at the Climate Change Conference to the Senate as a treaty for a vote for ratification.  The GOP Congress does hold the power of the purse and in this case it is obvious that the Senate does hold a powerful tool to force Obama to bring any agreement before the Senate, where the GOP majority could then renounce the agreement as a treaty in its role of advise and consent.

The irony is that the UN conference ends of December 11th, and that is the last day to finalize spending for 2016.  This should be one of the more interesting cases of when an irresistible force meets an immovable object.  Will the GOP majority in the Senate use this tactic to blunt the Obama administration participation in funding of any climate change mission?   We should have some kind of answer in less than three weeks.