Republican Makes Quick Appearance At Kerry-Boxer Markup

Travis Martinez, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

Republicans continued their boycott of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee’s markup of the Kerry-Boxer Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act Wednesday, sans one Republican, Ranking Member James Inhofe (R-OK), who made a brief appearance.

Infofe, who gave a short opening statement, was quick to make his departure 15 minutes into the hearing.

Inhofe asked Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) to cooperate with the minority party by having a full EPA economic analysis of the bill before continuing the markup.

Inhofe delivered a letter from Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio), which according to Inhofe “outlines the agreement Sen. Voinnovich has with EPA.”

Inhofe insisted that what the Republican members of the committee are doing is nothing out of the ordinary. The Senator from Oklahoma recalled the Clear Skies Act, which spanned two Congresses, when Democratic Senators sent two letters requesting new and balanced analysis before the committee moved to a markup.

Until a quorum can be met to proceeded with the markup process, Boxer will invite back EPA for further questioning and will fill time with a briefing explaining the entire bill later Wednesday afternoon.

“We will follow committee rules to the T, we will follow committee rules by the T,” said Boxer.

Wednesday marks the second day of the boycott.

Following Inhofe’s remarks, in a sign of bipartisanship he gave his hand to Boxer.