President Joe Biden is aiming to shell out more than $11 billion for climate spending in other countries, according to the White House’s more than $5.7 trillion budget released on Monday.
The proposal, which comes weeks after Congress approved the $1.5 trillion omnibus spending bill for the rest of the year, would allocate $44.9 billion “to tackle the climate crisis.” Such a feat would spawn a $16.7 billion increase from 2021 spending on climate.
In a section titled “Restoring America’s Global Climate Leadership,” the White House calls for more than $11 billion “in international climate finance,” which would effectively quadruple green energy spending on the global scale.
“U.S. international climate assistance and financing would: accelerate the global energy transition to net-zero emissions by 2050; help developing countries build resilience to the growing impacts of climate change; and support the implementation of the President’s Plan to Conserve Global Forests: Critical Carbon Sinks,” the proposal states.
Around $1.6 billion would go toward the Green Climate Fund, which is backed by the United Nations (U.N.) and supports “climate adaptation and mitigation projects in developing countries.” The budget would also provide a $3.2 billion loan to the Clean Technology Fund, which according to its website, maintains $5.3 billion to provide resources to developing countries “to scale up low carbon technologies with significant potential for long-term greenhouse gas emissions savings.”
Marc Morano, a former George W. Bush administration staffer in the Senate environment and public works committee who runs the website Climate Depot, told The Daily Wire that giving billions to the U.N. fund is equivalent to paying leaders of developing nations to keep their citizens poor.
“The U.N. can be expected to give the most money to those leaders of countries willing to keep their citizens locked in backbreaking poverty,” said Morano, author of the book “Green Fraud: Why the Green New Deal Is Even Worse Than You Think.” “And forget cheap reliable fossil fuels for the nations in the developing world who need it most, as the U.S. will be imposing only ‘green’ energy on those most in desperate need of energy.”
The White House did not return a request for comment.
The president’s 2023 green energy plan also seeks to decrease “reliance on producers of non-renewable resources.” In April, Biden first announced his international climate pledge, followed by remarks before the U.N. in September partly on his goal of “mobilizing” $100 billion for developing nations.
Former President Barack Obama previously vowed to allocate $3 billion toward the Green Climate Fund. The administration did not reach that number. Soon after, former President Donald Trump yanked the U.S. out of climate agreements internationally and said such agreements would cost taxpayers “a vast fortune.”
Biden’s budget proposal appropriating billions for green energy spending comes amid gas prices reaching a record high. Inflation soared to record highs last month, while the Consumer Price Index increased 7.9% in the past year. The surge marked a 40-year record high.
Biden claimed on Monday that his budget sends a “clear message that we value fiscal responsibility” and slammed Trump for “fiscal mismanagement.”
“My dad had an expression, he said ‘don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget — I’ll tell you what you value,’” Biden said. “Well the budget I’m releasing today sends a clear message to the American people what we value. First, fiscal responsibility. Second, safety and security, and thirdly, investments needed to build a better America.”
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