Mitch McConnell calls U.S.-China climate agreement 'unrealistic'

Mitch McConnell calls U.S.-China climate agreement &#039;unrealistic&#039;

(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

last updated 10 January 2015

Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) wasted no time resuming Washington's charming gridlock politics, stating late Tuesday that President Obama's newly minted climate change deal with China is an "unrealistic plan." The agreement between the world's two biggest polluters will require the U.S. to reduce pollution by roughly 26 percent by 2025 and China to cap its emissions by 2030 at the latest.

"Our economy can't take the president's ideological war on coal that will increase the squeeze on middle-class families and struggling miners," McConnell said soon after the deal was announced. "This unrealistic plan, that the president would dump on his successor, would ensure higher utility rates and fewer jobs."