Comer: Biden Seeks to Shield Podesta’s New Role in the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate from Transparency and Accountability
The Biden Administration appears to be engaged in an intentional effort to evade law requiring a special envoy to be Senate confirmed
WASHINGTON – House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) is continuing to push the Biden Administration for information related to the activities of the office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate (SPEC) and is expressing new concerns over John Podesta’s elevation to Envoy John Kerry’s role and duties. In a letter to U.S. Department of State Secretary Antony Blinken, Chairman Comer emphasizes that the Biden Administration appears to be engaged in an intentional effort to evade law requiring a special envoy to be Senate confirmed and is now requesting a staff-level briefing and documents and communications to understand Mr. Podesta’s new relationship with the SPEC office.
“The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is continuing its investigation into the activities of the office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate (SPEC). On January 31, 2024, media outlets reported that John Podesta will assume SPEC Envoy John Kerry’s duties upon Kerry’s departure to work on the President’s re-election campaign. Despite Mr. Podesta’s elevation to Envoy Kerry’s role, Mr. Podesta ‘will remain at the White House rather than move to the State Department’ and he will take the title of Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy—not SPEC envoy, like his predecessor. By granting Envoy Kerry’s position to Mr. Podesta with a different title and location, the Biden Administration appears engaged in an intentional effort to evade application of law requiring a special envoy to be Senate confirmed,” wrote Chairman Comer.
The Biden Administration is suppressing records requested by the Oversight Committee regarding the SPEC office and its activities. Envoy Kerry and SPEC staff appear to have engaged in activities that skirt congressional authority, threaten foreign policy under the guise of climate advocacy, and could undermine our economic health. The State Department is still refusing to be transparent about the SPEC office’s activities, spending, and staffing with the Committee and the American people.
“As Mr. Podesta steps into the role, it is unclear to what extent he will retain the same powers as Envoy Kerry and his arrangement with the SPEC office at the State Department,” continued Chairman Comer. “The Committee has concerns that the State Department and the White House will deliberately complicate future congressional oversight requests on the grounds that Mr. Podesta is simultaneously a White House employee and a State Department leader. Keeping Mr. Podesta in the White House without changing his title to SPEC Envoy is a flagrant attempt to evade the application of law requiring his Senate confirmation and supports the claim that the Biden Administration has taken additional steps to keep SPEC office activities—and its leader’s activities—from the purview of the public and the accountability of Congress.”
Read the letter to Secretary Blinken here.
READ MORE:
Comer Probes John Kerry’s Secret Negotiations as Special Presidential Envoy for Climate