Republican lawmakers suggest Podesta appointment unlawful without Senate confirmation

Republican leaders of the House Energy Committee and the Senate Environment Committee said in a letter to the White House on Wednesday that President Biden’s replacement of climate change envoy John Kerry with John Podesta will become a law in 2021. suggested that it was illegal without Senate approval.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Ranking Member Shelley Moore Capito (R-Va.) said in a letter that there is no confirmation. said that it would be a violation of the nation’s constitution for Mr. Biden to replace Mr. Kerry. National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022. All envoy positions within the State Department require Senate confirmation.

Mr. Podesta’s position is under the oversight of the White House, rather than the State Department, which was the basis for Mr. Kelly’s position. However, Mr. Capito and Mr. Rogers said that since Mr. Podesta will have the same portfolio, “any objective observer would be able to conceive of Mr. Podesta’s ‘new’ position in order to circumvent recently enacted laws.” “There is a reasonable suspicion that this was done in order to avoid accountability to Congress and to obstruct explanations to Congress.” subvert surveillance efforts; ”

Kerry, who was appointed climate envoy in 2021, announced in January that he would step down to advise Biden’s re-election campaign. He confirmed earlier this week that he would officially resign on Wednesday. Mr. Podesta, who was appointed White House climate change adviser after the passage of the Inflation Control Act, was given the title “senior adviser to the president for international climate policy,” rather than Mr. Kelly’s “special presidential envoy for climate.”

Mr. Capito and Mr. Rogers are not the first Republicans to call on Mr. Podesta to come before the full Senate before taking office. In February, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member James Risch (R-Idaho) said in a statement to The Hill:[a]Appointed government officials who rely heavily on State Department personnel and resources should be accountable to the Congressional committees that have jurisdiction over the country, including the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. ”

The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.