GOP to Boycott Senate Climate Change Bill
Republicans on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee are not planing to participate in the markup of the Kerry – Boxer climate change bill, which Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) had scheduled for Tuesday.
Will this block the legislation? Senate rule requires that at least two Republicans participate in the markup session, reports CQ Politics. Boxer is circumventing that requirement by scheduling a “committee business meeting.” This will allow the Committee’s Democrats, which account for 12 of the Committee’s 19 members, to work on the bill without any Republicans present.
But the move, orchastrated by Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.), one of the most prominent climate change denier, does not bode well for the bill’s future once it reaches the floor, where it will require Republican votes to pass.
Josh Nelson, guest blogging on The Wonk Room remains optimistic on the bill’s prospect. He writes:
Both on the EPW Committee, and in the full Senate, the numbers are on the side of passage. Senator Inhofe knows this, so he is throwing one last hail-mary in an attempt to stall the process. I don’t expect better from him, but it is still pretty pathetic.
Photo Credit, UPI
