The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 11 to 10 to confirm Rex Tillerson, former ExxonMobil CEO, as Secretary of State.
During the 2016 election, ExxonMobil contributed nearly $330,000 to 30 Senate Republicans, including Senate Foreign Relations committee members Marco Rubio (FL), Ron Johnson (WI), Todd Young (IN), Johnny Isakson (GA), and Rand Paul (KY). The vote will head to the Senate floor this week.
In response, Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune released the following statement:
“Donald Trump may as well be adding the ExxonMobil logo to the State Department sign. It’s incredibly telling that every Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations committee, several of whom received campaign donations from Exxon, voted to appoint that company’s former CEO to be the United States’ ambassador to the world.
“We’re at a critical moment in the fight to tackle the climate crisis, and we need a leader at the State Department who is prepared to meet that challenge head on. Instead, we’ve been offered a climate-denying fossil fuel millionaire who helmed the oil company that concealed its knowledge of climate change for decades. Those aren’t credentials for a diplomat, they are reasons Tillerson should be disqualified. Make no mistake, Rex Tillerson is unfit to be Secretary of State, and we will keep up the pressure on our Senators to oppose his nomination in the Senate floor vote next week.”
Enviroshop is maintained by dedicated NetSys Interactive Inc. owners & employees who generously contribute their time to maintenance & editing, web design, custom programming, & website hosting for Enviroshop.