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Comment by lostcolony | Hacker News Reader

So not even half of the Republican Senators, let alone all the Democratic ones? Hardly an 'American' issue.

More specifically, the issue is with Republican legislators listening to fossil fuel interests and wealthy donors over public opinion.

A majority of people in the United States support climate action. Even a majority of self-identified Republicans.

How is it that the secretary of state who was a fossil fuel CEO is against quitting?

Many of the same researchers that developed the techniques that Exxon relies on to find oil also developed the arguments about anthropogenic climate change. There are certainly individuals within Exxon who acknowledge climate change. I do not envy their cognitive dissonance.

Update: Exxon stockolders too!

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-exxonmobil-climate-idUSKB...

I don't follow US politics very closely, so I don't know whom you are referring to; but if they were a fossil fuel CEO, they may no longer have a financial interest in quitting.

34 Senators would be required to block ratification.

I wonder how that vote would turn out if Trump submitted the treaty to the Senate (as Obama should have).

40. You need 66 to ratify a treaty, but you can also pass a 'treaty implementation bill' which is basically normal legislation mirroring the language of the treaty, and you only need a majority in the house, and either a majority or a filibuster-proof majority in the senate. That's how NAFTA was passed.

Obama could have tried that with the Paris climate deal, but now it would require Trump's signature, or enough votes to override a veto (again including 67 Senators).

But both sides seem to be playing by a new rulebook here, in which the President makes international agreements without consulting Congress.

This particular example may not demonstrate it, but it absolutely is an American issue, not a Trump issue. Denial of climate change, its negative consequences, and the merits of fighting it have been a standard part of the Republican platform for a long time.

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