Pelosi and Others Promote Agenda 21 in Congress

By [post_author] –

Posted on Freedom Advocates on September 10th 2004 

Update to 2004 article: Representative
Eliot Engel (D-NY), Nancy Pelosi and WM Broomfield (R-MI)  all use the term “Agenda 21” and “United Nations” on this
CSPAN video at 11:43:30.

WASHINGTON D.C. – Though Congress never voted to support and
implement Agenda 21 (aka Sustainable Development) — and its implementation has been accomplished through executive orders and the activities of NGOs — there is evidence that some representatives tried very hard to push it through early on.

Why didn’t the American public find out a long time ago how some members of Congress are pushing for the United States to submit to an international regime of comprehensive control? After all, the evidence is in the open — all congressional bills are in the public domain, along with a list of every representative that sponsored or cosponsored them.

Perhaps it is the case that the evidence is only damaging in retrospect, since most researchers didn’t see the significance of the bills when they were proposed. After all, even a cursory look at the resolutions and legislation that roll through the congressional calendar reveals how inane most of it is, with resolutions declaring this week to be National Metal Siding Week and next Thursday to be John Doe’s Annual Day of Recognition. It’s no surprise, then, that actions that pose a grievous threat to the individual liberties of Americans and the sovereignty of our nation sometimes slip through unseen.

Agenda 21 in the Halls of Congress

Congressional support for Agenda 21 arose quietly in 1992 and 1993 in the months before and after the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), which took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, June 3-14, 1992. As early as January of 1992, Congressman John Porter (IL) introduced a resolution (H. J. RES. 394) calling for President George H.W. Bush to lead a delegation to Brazil.

During the UNCED, also called the Rio Earth Summit, Bush would sign the Framework Convention on Climate Change and endorse the Rio Declaration and the Forest Principles, and adopt Agenda 21 on behalf of the United States of America. Though Bush refused to sign the Convention on Biological Diversity due to technology transfer language, President Clinton signed it immediately after taking office the next year.

Some members of Congress were eager to get the ball rolling: an aide from Congressman Porter’s office told The Scientist (registration required), a magazine for the scientific community, “We have to get something in place this Congress, or we’ll have another excuse to do nothing.” On July 17, 1992, Porter took the next step and introduced legislation (H.R. 5424) calling for the establishment of a “Commission on Environment and Development” that would monitor all who signed Agenda 21 and the other agreements laid out in Rio, with the express purpose of “advancing the objectives of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development.”

“The Rio Commission will help ensure that the promise of the Earth Summit will not be forgotten, but fulfilled,” Porter told The Scientist.

Though it appears that Porter’s legislation wallowed in committees, the momentum from Rio was still quite strong. Just weeks later, on August 5, 1992, Nancy Pelosi (CA) introduced a concurrent resolution in Congress (H. CON. RES. 353), saying that the United States of America should reform all domestic and foreign policy to adhere to the agreements of the Earth Summit, develop a national strategy to implement Agenda 21, and regularly report to the United Nations our progress on that path. Pelosi’s resolution passed the House of Representatives on October 2, 1992, but failed in the Senate.

Back on the international playing field, the United Nations was hard at work establishing an institutional framework to ensure that Agenda 21’s comprehensive regulation affecting every aspect of daily life would be enacted. On December 22, 1992, the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) was established by the United Nations Economic and Social Council and empowered by the General Assembly to “examine the progress of the implementation of Agenda 21 at the national, regional and international levels…” The CSD is entering its 13th year, and the United States of America has been a member of the CSD since the very beginning.

Undaunted by slow going in Congress, Nancy Pelosi returned to the House floor on March 29, 1993 and introduced a joint resolution (H. J. RES. 166) to renew the call for the United States to “assume a strong leadership role in implementing … Agenda 21 and other Earth Summit agreements.” Pelosi eventually gathered 67 co-sponsors for her bill, 32 of whom are still in Congress.

H. J. RES. 166 was referred directly to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and then on April 16, 1993, it was referred to the Subcommittee on Economic Policy, Trade and Environment. By all indicators, the bill went no farther than that subcommittee.

Down… But Not Out for the Count

After a flurry of activity to get the United States on board with the international environmental movement to eradicate individual rights and subvert the Constitution, there was a relative calm in Congress, with all the dangerous elements resigned to a purgatory of subcommittees. Historians could consult the federal records, where they would find no concrete evidence that these bills had gone any farther. They would be wrong, however, for the actions called for in Pelosi’s resolutions were being carried out, regardless of Congressional support — or the lack thereof.

On June 14, 1993, President Bill Clinton, after just six months in office, signed an executive order establishing the President’s Council on Sustainable Development (PCSD), which would carry out the exact functions called for in Pelosi’s resolutions. In a White House press release, Clinton announced that the Council’s primary goals would be to:

  • “Develop specific policy recommendations for a national strategy for sustainable development that can be implemented by public and private sectors;
  • “Respond to the recommendations in Agenda 21, the comprehensive international policy declaration nations of the world agreed to as a pledge to global environmental action, and contribute to the U.S. plan to be submitted to the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, the international commission created at the Earth Summit to help ensure implementation of Agenda 21;
  • “Sponsor projects that demonstrate and test the viability of the Council’s recommendations and that encourage comprehensive approaches;
  • “Establish links with other non-governmental organizations within and outside the United States;
  • “Recognize outstanding sustainable development achievements through an annual Presidential award; and,
  • “Educate the public about the far-reaching opportunities in sustainable development.”

Through the PCSD, Agenda 21 policy recommendations filtered into every federal agency in America. Many of those agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), had their own representatives in attendance at the Rio Earth Summit and were already acting upon Agenda 21, but this new source of support from the White House gave extra muscle to their activities.

Apart from the PCSD, a multitude of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) were working in communities across America to translate the overarching principles and recommendations of Agenda 21 into local policy. One of the most prominent NGOs was the International Council on Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI). ICLEI, launched in 1990 at the World Congress of Local Governments for a Sustainable Future, is based in Toronto, Canada, but has offices around the globe, including Berkeley, California. Its stated mission is to provide policy recommendations to assist local governments in the implementation of Sustainable Development. ICLEI was instrumental in the development of Agenda 21, having drafted Chapter 28 in 1991 in preparation for the upcoming summit. Their boilerplate sustainable development policies are being implemented in every county in the United States.

As Pelosi’s resolution dictated, the United States has been giving periodic reports to the United Nations showing progress in “advancing the objectives of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development.” The United States Country Profile report (PDF), available for download on the United Nations’ website, was submitted in 2002 as part of the Country Profile series presented at the Johannesburg World Summit for Sustainable Development. According to that report, the Country Profile Series is “the most comprehensive overview to date of the status of implementation of Agenda 21 at the national level.” The United Nations also has a map on their website designating the international progress of the implementation of Agenda 21 (PDF). The United States is shown as having “components of sustainable development in place.”

Conclusion

Members of Congress are held accountable to their constituents for any actions they undertake contrary to their oath to preserve and protect the Constitution. However, when their bills are stalled in subcommittees, giving them a comfortable excuse for denial of culpability, the responsibility lies with all Americans to remain vigilant as federal, state and local agencies move forward with the piecemeal implementation of Agenda 21’s anti-human and anti-liberty policies. Those elected officials who continue to show support for sustainable development despite the clearly detrimental effects should be voted out of office and replaced with Constitutionally-minded individuals whose primary concern is the protection of unalienable rights.

Note: Thanks to a good friend, PD, who tipped me off to H.J.RES 166.


“Pelosi and Others Promote Agenda 21 in Congress” by Michael Park

See related article:

Pelosi Laid Groundwork for Obama’s Transformation of America by Judi McLeod

 

This article contains links to outside sources not controlled by Freedom Advocates and therefore are subject to change.

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