climate bill

Last week, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) threatened a Republican boycott of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee’s markup of the Kerry-Boxer climate bill. Well, we’re not quite at the markup stage yet, but it seems that Inhofe and his colleagues are already making good on their threat.

It’s hard to dispute the game-changing nature of the joint New York Times op-ed by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) in favor of climate legislation this past weekend, which brought the chances of a truly bipartisan bill from near zero to, well, somewhere much higher. Not only would Graham’s support mean another [...]

Yet another letter to Congress opposing the Waxman-Markey climate bill has been revealed to be a fake. The letter, the 14th confirmed forgery, claims to be from an American Legion post in Rocky Mount, Va.
The letter was sent to Rep. Tom Perriello (D-Va.), who has thus far confirmed that his office received 10 fake letters. [...]

At Wednesday’s Agriculture Committee hearing on climate change policy, Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), who is expected to take over as chair of the committee, again voiced her concerns about passing cap-and-trade legislation this year — though she seemed a bit less aggressively against moving a bill this year than she has in previous statements.
Lincoln affirmed [...]

For a man who read the morning paper during a congressional hearing on the Waxman-Markey climate bill last week, Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) sure seems to be enjoying the fight over the legislation.
Barton, the ranking member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, doesn’t have any illusions about his role in the process; he is [...]

Yesterday, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) admitted that he probably wouldn’t be able to muster 60 votes to pass a climate and energy bill along the lines of the one unveiled by House Democrats earlier in the day. As a result, it appears likely that the various elements of the bill — including cap-and-trade, [...]