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Senate committee passes climate legislation amidst partisan squabbling
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Senator Max Baucus
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on November 5 voted out sweeping legislation to establish a cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050.
The committee meeting was boycotted by the panel's seven Republicans, who argued that committee Democrats rushed the bill to approval without a detailed Environmental Protection Agency analysis of its economic impacts.
Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana) was the only one of the panel's 12 Democrats to vote against the bill. Baucus said the bill's near-term target of 20 percent emissions reduction by 2020 is too high, but he pledged to work for a climate bill that can secure the 60 votes necessary for passage.
The committee's action was cheered by environmental organizations, but denounced by climate legislation critics.
In the meantime, Senators John Kerry (D-Massachusetts), Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), and Joseph Lieberman (I-Connecticut) on November 4 announced a parallel path to negotiate climate legislation with the White House and business groups.
The environment committee voted on a revised draft of climate legislation released by Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-California) on October 30. In response to concerns about regulating greenhouse gas emissions via the Clean Air Act, the revised draft limits EPA's authority to use certain Clean Air Act provisions, such as hazardous air pollutants regulations, to limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and other industrial facilities.
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