On September 3, 2016, Obama announced that the United States, along with China, will join the Paris Agreement to deal with pollution.  Obama said:

In 2014, President Xi and I stood together in Beijing to announce landmark climate targets for our two countries to meet. That announcement set us on the road to Paris by jumpstarting an intense diplomatic effort to put other countries on the same course. In 2015, we stood together in Washington to lay out additional actions our two countries would take, along with a roadmap for ultimately reaching a strong agreement in Paris. This year, in 2016, we meet again to commit formally to joining the agreement ahead of schedule, creating the prospect that the agreement might enter into force ahead of schedule, as well.

The United States and China are taking that step today, as our two nations formally join the Paris Agreement[.]

Obama is again doing an end around the Constitution on ratifying treaties.  He knows he does not have 67 votes to ratify the treaty, so he is calling it an agreement like the Iran appeasement agreement.

The Constitution states the relevant powers of the president in Article 2, Section 2: “He shall have the power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur[.]”

There is nothing in the Constitution giving the president the power to “join” any agreement that in reality is a treaty.  Obama is doing the same constitutional dodge he did with the Iran “agreement” where he and John Kerry agreed to allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons and gave Iran 150 billion dollars.  Obama announced it as an agreement, and the Senate passed the Corker bill that “allowed” Congress to review the agreement and rescind it with a two-thirds vote against.  Thus, Obama and the Corker gang changed the Constitution.  Instead of the president submitting the treaty for two-thirds approval, Obama renamed the treaty an agreement that the Senate had to reject with a two-thirds vote.  The only senator to vote against this travesty was Senator Cotton, who should be appointed by Trump as secretary of state.

Obama thus established a precedent to call a treaty an agreement to bypass the Constitution.  Now he is “joining” the United States to a treaty to follow the United Nations Paris agreement.

It is time for the Republican majority in the Senate to wake up and stop this subversion of our Constitution.  McConnell, McCain, Rubio, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, and the rest should take a break from criticizing Trump and do their sworn duty to protect the Constitution.

Trump opposes this treaty disguised as an agreement.  This would be a great opportunity for the Republican Senate establishment to work with Trump to defeat this “joining,” and to defeat Hillary, who supports Obama.  It is a good campaign issue for the Republicans.