Ernst Releases New Findings Exposing Hypocrisy in Biden Admin’s Green Agenda

WASHINGTON – Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) is exposing how the Biden administration is green-lighting bureaucrats burning fossil fuels to jet off to climate conferences around the world while waging a relentless war on American-made energy at home. 

Ernst, alongside Senators Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V.), requested the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) calculate the greenhouse gases emitted from the Biden administration’s travel to the United Nations (UN) climate conference last year. They released the findings of this report today, which revealed that, even though President Biden signed an executive order requiring agencies to track and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from travel, GAO reports the State Department still does “not have a systematic way to calculate greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. delegation travel.”

That is why Ernst is taking action and introducing the Executive Branch Emissions Transparency Act to calculate the future use of the fossil fuels emitted by the travels of the president, his climate czar John Kerry, and the rest of the Biden administration.

“The gas is always greener when you’re burning fossil fuels in the name of saving the planet,” Senator Joni Ernst said. “While giving lip service to greenies, Biden bureaucrats are blatantly emitting the greenhouse gases they demonize. The double standard is clear, and Americans have had enough of this hot air. It’s time for Biden bureaucrats to face the facts: according to their own actions, American-made fossil fuels are not the enemy. I am committed to exposing this hypocrisy.”

“Joe Biden and his officials say they are addressing an ‘existential’ crisis by participating in climate conferences, all while traveling on private jets to and from the conferences. The Biden administration should instead focus its efforts on American energy production—or at the very least, let American taxpayers know about the private travel they are paying for,” Senator Tom Cotton said.

“Americans are tired of bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. who don’t practice what they preach when it comes to protecting the environment,” Senator Shelley Moore Capito said. “In the Biden administration, the same people who are closing down power plants across the country and forcing Americans to buy electric vehicles are also the ones flying to climate conferences and using fossil fuels without apology. I’m proud to join Senator Ernst in continuing our push for accountability and stand up for those who are understandably frustrated by the hypocrisy we’ve seen time and time again.”

The Biden administration’s excessive fossil fuel usage in the name of “saving” the planet is growing, and it doesn’t stop at the UN climate conference. For example:

• Last year, the president’s official Climate Envoy John Kerry led a delegation of 259 officials from 17 different agencies and offices that traveled (via plane) to Egypt, where they ironically “launched the Net-Zero Government Initiative, inviting governments to lead by example and achieve net-zero emissions from national government operations.”
• Kerry also flew to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January, stating “it was truly extraordinary” to be part of a “select group of human beings … able to sit in a room and come together and actually talk about saving the planet.”
• In April, Kerry jetted off to Japan to attend the G7 Ministers’ Meeting on Climate, Energy, and Environment.
• In 2021, 20 representatives, 18 senators, and 52 congressional staffers traveled to the UN climate conference to a total of 90 Congressional “observers.” Last year, the number of congressional “observers” included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and several other representatives, as well as U.S. senators and dozens of congressional staff.

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