--- title: Barack Obama Eyes Climate Change Accord Without Congress description: Possible end-run around Senate ratification canonical: https://time.com/3194127/climate-change-global-warming-barack-obama/ author: Dan Kedmey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-27T16:08:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:52:40.699Z article:section: Politics og:title: Barack Obama Eyes Climate Change Accord Without Congress og:description: Possible end-run around Senate ratification og:url: https://time.com/3194127/climate-change-global-warming-barack-obama/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0c9a41afbe26dc8e/6986a11b3bc9993aa31a511a/climate-change1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4961 og:image:height: 2791 og:image:alt: Climate Change Global Warming Asbestos Mines og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Barack Obama Eyes Climate Change Accord Without Congress twitter:description: Possible end-run around Senate ratification twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0c9a41afbe26dc8e/6986a11b3bc9993aa31a511a/climate-change1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Mulls Circumventing Congress for International Climate Change Agreement > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Aug 27, 2014 4:08 PM UTC  Asbestos mines in Amiandos, Troodos Mountains, Cyprus, June 15, 2014. Asbestos mines in Amiandos, Troodos Mountains, Cyprus, June 15, 2014. G. Nimatallah—De Agostini/Getty Images  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Aug 27, 2014 4:08 PM UTC The Obama Administration is [working on an international agreement](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/27/us/politics/obama-pursuing-climate-accord-in-lieu-of-treaty.html?%5Fr=0) for countries to cut their fossil fuel emissions, a move that could set up a showdown with Congress by avoiding the need for formal treaty ratification. The accord, meant to be signed at a United Nations summit next year, will likely bypass the usual ratification procedure, the New York _Times_ reports. Ratification would require a two-thirds vote from the Senate, but any action on climate change faces stiff resistance from Republicans and from some moderate Democrats, and President Barack Obama has increasingly looked for ways to work around congressional opposition as his time in office winds down. The Administration is considering framing an agreement as “politically binding” instead of legally binding as a way to circumvent the need for ratification, the _Times_ reports. Obama’s climate negotiators told the _Times_ that the framework would help “name and shame” negligent countries. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said it’s premature to say the Administration is planning to circumvent the Senate. “Not a word of the new climate agreement currently under discussion has been written, so it is entirely premature to say whether it will or won’t require Senate approval,” Psaki said in a statement. “Our goal is to negotiate a successful and effective global climate agreement that can help address this pressing challenge. Anything that is eventually negotiated and that should go to the Senate will go to the Senate. We will continue to consult with Congress on this important issue.” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) voiced opposition to the possible maneuver, saying it’s indicative of what he called the Obama Administration’s tendency to “ignore the elected representatives of the people when they don’t agree.” –_Additional reporting by Zeke J Miller_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3194127/climate-change-global-warming-barack-obama/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3194127/climate-change-global-warming-barack-obama/"},"headline":"Obama Mulls Circumventing Congress for International Climate Change Agreement","datePublished":"2014-08-27T16:08:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:52:40.699Z","description":"Possible end-run around Senate ratification","url":"https://time.com/3194127/climate-change-global-warming-barack-obama/","keywords":["Environment","climate change","carbon","global warming"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0c9a41afbe26dc8e/6986a11b3bc9993aa31a511a/climate-change1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Kedmey","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0c9a41afbe26dc8e/6986a11b3bc9993aa31a511a/climate-change1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Climate Change Global Warming Asbestos Mines","caption":"Climate Change Global Warming Asbestos Mines","creditText":"G. 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