Senate panel votes to fund UN climate agency

A Senate committee voted Thursday to contribute $10 million to the United Nations’ climate change agency.

The Senate Appropriations Committee voted 16 to 14 to approve an amendment by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) to restore funding for the U.N.’s Framework Convention on Climate Change in the State Department appropriations bill.

The payments that the United States had made annually since joining the convention in 1992 had been slated to be eliminated.

Merkley said at the committee meeting Thursday to vote on the bill that the amendment “fits in with Secretary [Rex] Tillerson’s desire that we both continue to monitor the changes in the world’s climate and that we keep a seat at the table.”

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/349693-senate-panel-votes-to-fund-un-climate-agency