Sen. Dan Sullivan (R., Alaska) slammed presidential climate envoy John Kerry for working against a bill that would prohibit imports from China derived from Uyghur forced labor on Thursday, citing a Washington Free Beacon article on the Senate floor.
Sullivan’s comments came after Senate Democrats blocked a vote on the proposed amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act on Wednesday, citing conflicting reasons for the holdup. Sources told the Free Beacon this week that Democrats were objecting to the amendment because some Biden administration officials feared it would undermine climate negotiations with China.
"Evidently, there’s one American who disagrees with [banning imports linked to forced labor]," said Sullivan.
"Here’s an article today, Madam President, from the Free Beacon, that talks about senior Biden officials are worried that this bill stopping slave labor products from China coming into America will ‘undermine the White House’s climate agenda’ and unfortunately ‘limit solar panel imports from China,’ and ‘presidential climate envoy John Kerry among others has been lobbying congressional members against the bill.’"
"Wow. Wow. That’s remarkable. Why would he do that? Why would he do that? Someone needs to ask John Kerry that. That’s just one example. Something about John Kerry, always in the mix, undermining American interests."
Kerry, among others in the Biden administration, has been lobbying House members against the bill, due to concerns that it would hurt the White House’s climate agenda and limit imports of solar panels from China, the Free Beacon reported last month.