[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 108 (Wednesday, July 6, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Page S4815]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           GREEN CLIMATE FUND

  Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, on June 29, 2016, the Senate 
Appropriations Committee marked up S. 3117, the Department of State, 
Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriation Act, 2017. 
During the mark-up, the Senator from Oregon offered an amendment to 
strike language that would have prohibited the Department of State from 
expending funds appropriated by the bill to make a Federal Government 
contribution to the Green Climate Fund. The Appropriations Committee 
adopted Senator Merkley's amendment by voice vote.
  The committee's voice vote did not afford me the opportunity to 
record my opposition to Senator Merkley's amendment in the committee 
record. I oppose the Merkley amendment and any transfer of funding to 
the Green Climate Fund.
  As Deputy Secretary of State Heather Higginbottom testified to the 
Senate Foreign Relations Committee in March, Congress did not authorize 
the Green Climate Fund. Congress also failed to appropriate any funding 
for the Green Climate Fund in fiscal year 2016. In March 2016, the 
Department of State transferred $500 million from the Economic Support 
Fund to the Green Climate Fund, despite the lack of any authorization 
or appropriation from Congress.
  This $500 million transfer represents 26 percent of all 
appropriations to the Economic Support Fund--intended to promote 
economic and political stability around the globe--at a time when 
combating the Zika virus, addressing the threat of international 
terrorism, and dealing with the risks posed by Russian aggression in 
Eastern Europe all would have been better uses of State Department 
funds.
  For these reasons, I oppose Senator Merkley's amendment to S. 3117.

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