Fw: Republican boycott
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We thought you might find yesterday’s article from Congress Daily AM of interest. The Republicans continued their boycott of the EPW committee markup yesterday morning.
Boxer Might Move Toward Markup Without GOP Presence
Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009
by Darren
Goode
A partisan standoff on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee might escalate today when the panel continues debate on a climate bill.
Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer might move to do what critics have labeled a "nuclear option," which could allow the panel to approve and possibly amend a cap-and-trade bill she and Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry have offered.
At the very least, Boxer said, "I think we can vote a bill out of this committee."
All seven panel Republicans are continuing their boycott of the markup and are seeking more economic analysis from EPA. "The same position we had before," Environment and Public Works ranking member James Inhofe said.
Boxer did not tip her hand about what she will try to do when the markup resumes today, including whether she will move to allow amendments to be offered and voted on without Republican participation. "I think you just need to be here tomorrow," she said. "If they don't come, you know, I'll say one thing. If they do show up, I'll say another." She did not say how many more days she would keep the markup open before reporting a bill out of the panel.
Inhofe warned there could be repercussions if Boxer proceeds. "You're destroying the integrity of the committee system," he said. "By setting that precedent, that could come back to haunt them and, in fact, I'm sure it would. Either you live by the rules or you don't."
Republicans say the committee rules require two Republicans in the room to mark up a bill, while Senate rules merely call for a majority of the panel to be present to report a bill out.
Panel Republicans were briefly represented at the first day of the markup Tuesday by Ohio Sen. George Voinovich, who gave a 15-minute opening statement on their behalf. Republicans then declined to attend a briefing that afternoon by an EPA official on the costs of the bill.
Several Democrats on the panel took the opportunity at the question-and-answer session with David McIntosh -- EPA's associate administrator for congressional and intergovernmental relations -- to try to further make their public case that the agency has already sufficiently analyzed the cost of the Kerry-Boxer bill.
McIntosh said a "zone of uncertainty" included in the modeling means it is "particularly unlikely" that running a full suite of economic models as Republicans are calling for on the Kerry-Boxer bill would change the agency's opinion that its costs are essentially equal to that of a House-passed climate bill. "That prediction we're making is accurate," McIntosh said. Further, he added that EPA "would be reluctant" to do another analysis now before a markup because so far the agency has spent about $135,000 and 1,600 employee hours analyzing the House and Senate bills.
In a letter to EPA Administrator Jackson Tuesday, Voinovich said the agency has already agreed to do a full analysis "with inputs and assumptions that provide a more comprehensive and accurate picture of how it would affect our nation's economy, jobs, energy prices, and our energy security."
Off the panel, Senate Democratic leaders Tuesday rose to Boxer's defense. "I don't know what more the woman could do," Majority Leader Reid said. "You badly want to dance with that person and you go over and say, 'Would you dance with me?' If the person doesn't get up, you can't dance."
Senate Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander of Tennessee said Democrats "are refusing to let us know what a bill costs and saying you need to start voting on something that might cost hundreds of billions of dollars and drive jobs overseas without knowing what it costs, and we're not about to do that."
Kerry and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., today are meeting on Capitol Hill with Energy Secretary Chu, Interior Secretary Salazar and White House climate czar Carol Browner to try to make ground on a bipartisan compromise.
They are looking to "ascertain the administration's parameters" in adding help in a bill for nuclear energy, domestic production and technologies that are "essential to any framework" in the Senate, Kerry said. He said the administration's limits need to be clarified before a formal coalition of senators can be formed to fill in legislative details, although he said he and Graham are informally working with others.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has been hit by a handful of recent high-profile defections because of their opposition to the House climate bill and overall stance in the climate debate, issued a letter to Boxer and Inhofe Tuesday commending the basic Kerry-Graham blueprint as a "positive, practical and realistic framework" for legislation.
"The Chamber welcomes the call for a new conversation on how to address the issue, and believes their editorial can serve as a solid, workable, common-sense foundation on which to craft a bill," wrote Bruce Josten, the Chamber's executive vice president for government affairs, referring to an op-ed Kerry and Graham wrote for the New York Times. "Many other important details are needed, but the Chamber agrees that the objectives outlined in that editorial, coupled with their clear recognition that 'this process requires honest give-and-take and genuine bipartisanship,' can move this important policy objective forward in a bipartisan manner that garners strong business community support."
Boxer called the Chamber letter a "game changer" and highlighted that the organization is calling for inclusion of "the best parts" of the Kerry-Boxer bill. Notably absent, however, is mention of establishing a cap-and-trade program, which is the central tenet of the Kerry-Boxer bill.
Don Mallinson
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