Boise City Wire

U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, along with U.S. Representatives Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, have sent a letter to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken seeking clarity on the leadership structure for climate policy within the Biden Administration.

The members wrote in their letter, “Mr. Podesta’s coordination with the SPEC office and international representation of the United States in meetings with foreign leaders to discuss international climate policy appear to far exceed the characterization of Mr. Podesta’s role in the initial response to the Committees as merely leading ‘interagency coordination’ for the administration’s international climate policy.”

They continued by requesting more information about overlapping duties between different roles within the administration. “In light of this apparent overlap of duties between what Secretary Kerry undertook as the SPEC and what Mr. Podesta is now undertaking as a ‘Senior Advisor,’ we request information on the roles and responsibilities of the SPEC and the Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy, as well as information on ongoing or planned coordination between these two entities,” they added.

In January 2024, it was announced that Secretary John Kerry would be leaving his role as Special Presidential Envoy for Climate (SPEC) and John Podesta would assume responsibility for global climate efforts as Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy. Instead of nominating Mr. Podesta to take over from Secretary Kerry's position which would require Senate confirmation under 2021 legislation, President Biden appointed him to a new White House-based position that appears strikingly similar to Secretary Kerry's former role.

The full text of their letter can be found here.