GOP rep: Trump’s Paris deal exit ‘misguided’

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) called President Trump “misguided” for removing the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement, making her one of the few Republicans to openly criticize the decision.

“Withdrawing from the Paris Agreement is misguided, and harms the ongoing effort to fight climate change while also isolating us from our allies,” she said in a statement Thursday. “United States innovation and business leadership have been key drivers to lowering our carbon emissions over the last 20 years, and we should continue to have an influential seat at the table as the rest of the world addresses these issues.”

{mosads}“I have always advocated that Congress should have a transparent role in oversight and approval of these important matters, and just as [former] President [Barack] Obama overstepped by entering into this agreement without Congressional approval, this decision by President Trump is also a mistake,” Stefanik continued.

Trump on Thursday said he would formally withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement, which includes about 200 nations.

“In order to fulfill my solemn duty to protect America and its citizens, the United States will withdraw from the Paris climate accord,” he said at the White House Rose Garden.

“The bottom line is that the Paris accord is very unfair at the highest level to the United States. We are getting out, but we will start to negotiate and we will see if we can make a deal that is fair.”

The agreement consisted of individual greenhouse gas limits that each member nation determined for itself.

Former President Barack Obama pledged the U.S. would cut its greenhouse gas emissions 26 percent to 28 percent by 2025 in the nonbinding pact created in 2015.

One other Republican lawmaker to hit Trump’s decision Thursday was Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), who said she was “disappointed” with the choice.