Oversight Committee

@GOPoversight

🚨BREAKING🚨

Is Joe Biden shielding John Podesta from oversight?

Despite his elevation to Envoy Kerry’s role, John Podesta ‘will remain at the White House rather than move to the State Department’ and he will take the title of Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy—not SPEC envoy, like his predecessor.

By granting Podesta a different title and location, the Biden Administration appears to be engaging in an intentional effort to evade application of law requiring a special envoy to be Senate confirmed.

The decision to keep Mr. Podesta in the White House and not move him to the State

Department appears as an intentional effort to circumvent the law. In effect January 3, 2023,

Section 5105 of the FY2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) has required Senate

confirmation for State Department special envoys or other positions performing a similar

function “exercising significant authority pursuant to the laws of the United States.”12

As a State

Department employee and special envoy, had this law been in effect on January 20, 2021,13

Envoy Kerry’s appointment would have been subject to Senate confirmation.

14 However,

according to the Washington Post, “White House lawyers believe that the provision won’t apply

to Podesta’s new post.”15

Despite his new title, Mr. Podesta replacing Envoy Kerry as the top

climate diplomat appears subject to Section 5105 because his new role “[exercises] significant

authority pursuant to the laws of the United States.”16 By function of the SPEC office’s

integration with the State Department’s staff,17 Mr. Podesta will perform Envoy Kerry’s role

using the same SPEC office and State Department resources at the expense of American taxpayer

dollars—a requested $16.8 million dollars in 2024.

18

https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/031324-SPEC-Letter.pdf

https://twitter.com/GOPoversight/status/1767966057493381524