November 5, 2009
Posted: November 5th, 2009 02:03 PM ET
A climate change billl co-authored by Sens. Boxer and Kerry was approved by a Senate committee Thursday despite a Republican boycott of the committee's hearings.
Washington (CNN) - A Senate committee Thursday approved a major climate change bill despite a boycott by all of the panel's seven Republican members. Democrats on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted 11-1 to send the measure to the full chamber. Because of the Republican boycott of the committee hearing that began Tuesday, the panel was unable to amend the bill. Committee rules require at least two minority party members to be present to conduct regular business, including amending bills before it. However, an exception allowed the committee to vote on the overall bill as long as a majority of its members were present. The committee's Republicans were demanding a full Environmental Protection Agency analysis of the bill's economic impact before committee debate. Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, the panel's ranking Republican and an outspoken opponent of the climate change legislation, warned that Democrats would imperil future work by the committee if they passed the bill on their Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, the committee chairman, noted this week the panel has held dozens of hearings on the issue and compiled more than 300,000 pages of analysis, and that she had taken the unprecedented step of scheduling a session with EPA experts to answer any questions by committee members. However, the Republicans skipped the EPA briefing on Tuesday afternoon. Boxer also said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, has promised the full EPA analysis sought by Republicans on the climate change bill that eventually comes before the entire Senate. "The absence of the Republicans during the EPA's presentation was a clear message that their criticism of the EPA analysis was not a substantive one," Boxer said in a statement Thursday. "Indeed, the EPA said their economic analysis was 'unprecedented' in scope and was never done for any other energy or climate bill at this stage of the process." The bill would set a cap on greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change, and create a system of tradable pollution credits to ease the economic impact on polluters. The House has passed a similar measure, but the full Senate does not plan to take up the issue until next year. Leading senators including Democrat John Kerry of Massachusetts, Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and independent Joe Lieberman of Connecticut announced Wednesday they were spearheading negotiations on a compromise Senate plan that could win enough support to overcome any filibuster attempt. Kerry co-authored the measure passed Thursday by the Environment and Public Works Committee. Republicans contend the Democratic climate change bill would harm the U.S. economy by raising energy costs and giving other nations a competitive advantage. Democrats say reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the nation's dependence on fossil fuels such as oil and coal is necessary and strategic as the world moves toward clean and renewable energy sources. President Barack Obama and Democratic leaders wanted congressional action on climate change bills ahead of upcoming U.N. climate change talks in Copenhagen, Denmark to signal an increased U.S. commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The U.N. talks in December, intended to agree on a new global climate change treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, have been hindered by disputes between industrial powers including the United States and emerging and developing economies including China over specific targets for emissions reductions. Since taking office in January, Obama has signaled a new U.S. commitment to working with the international community on climate change after eight years of intransigence under the Bush administration. The United States and China are the world's two largest greenhouse gas emitters, with the U.S. per capita figure is by far the world's largest. In July, Obama joined the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia in pledging to work for a 50 percent reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, with developed countries cutting their emissions by an aggregate 80 percent or more to help meet that goal. Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, the lone Democrat to vote against the climate change bill in Thursday's committee meeting, said he opposed its interim target of a 20 percent reduction in emissions by 2020. Baucus said he wants to reduce the target to 17 percent to avoid undue economic hardship from the bill. The House bill passed earlier this year has a 17 percent target for 2020. Updated: 7:03 p.m.
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