Ivanka Trump will meet with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt Tuesday morning to talk about the Paris agreement on climate change.
Ivanka is one of the leading voices in the White House for staying in the agreement, which former President Barack Obama joined in 2016 to fight global warming. President Donald Trump promised to pull out of the deal, but Ivanka wants to “ensure the president has all the information he needs to make his decision,” Axios reported.
Ivanka, her husband Jared Kushner, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of the Department of Energy Rick Perry are among the top administration officials who want Trump to stay in the Paris agreement. White House chief strategist Steve Bannon and Pruitt want to ditch the Paris accords.
Pruitt has been openly critical of the agreement, calling it a “a bad deal” Obama should have brought before the Senate as the U.S. Constitution requires.
“I happen to think the Paris accord, the Paris treaty, or the Paris Agreement, if you will, should have been treated as a treaty, should have gone through Senate confirmation,” Pruitt told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” in March.
The Obama administration considered the Paris agreement an “executive agreement” that didn’t need Senate approval since none of the pledges made were legally binding. Obama pledged to cut U.S. emissions 26 to 28 percent by 2025.
Ivanka may be trying to change Pruitt’s position on Paris, which opponents say could complicate Trump’s plans to roll back Obama-era global warming policies. Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski is expected to attend the meeting as well.
White House officials will hold a larger meeting after Ivanka and Pruitt’s to “discuss whether to stay or leave the deal,” Axios reported. Sources suggest Trump is leaning towards keeping his campaign promise and ditching the Paris agreement, but lobbyists expect him to remain in the accord.
“[T]he lobbying echo chamber is supremely doubtful of a pullout,” a source told Axios. “Consensus at this point is no pull out, but new conditions and modifications that mitigate some of the most harmful aspects.”
Conservative groups want Trump to pull out of the deal. The Competitive Enterprise Institute released a report Wednesday detailing why Trump should ditch Paris.
“The Agreement endangers America’s capacity for self-government,” reads the report. “It empowers one administration to make legislative commitments for decades to come, without congressional authorization, and regardless of the outcome of future elections.”
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