Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Ok.), refuses to verbally respond to questions asked by Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Penn.) regarding the Republican boycott of the Kerry-Boxer markup.
Inhofe says he put the response into writing and it is available for the Committee (0:27)
During Wednesday’s markup of the Kerry-Boxer climate bill, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) offers an open hand to Republican committee members, which Sen.James Inhofe (R-Okla.) takes in efforts to bridge the partisan divide in the Environment and Public Works Committee. (0:17)
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.
Travis Martinez, University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service
The United States Chamber of Commerce emailed a letter Tuesday to the heads of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works during the markup of the Kerry-Boxer climate change bill, stating that the business lobby is willing to work with the committee to address climate change.
The letter, sent by R. Bruce Josten, Executive Vice President for Government Affairs, stated that “climate change is an important issue for this Congress to address, the chamber stands ready to work with Congress to resolve this issue in a bipartisan matter. It’s not whether to do something, but how.”
The chamber urged the committee to take important steps to bridge the political and geographical divide that prevented the similar efforts to pass effective climate change legislation in past years.
“This really is a game changer… If the Chamber of Commerce that has long opposed climate change is now saying [this] in their first sentence this is a tremendous signal,” said Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.).
Boxer declined to put the letter on record until they could authenticate it.
The politically charged prank troupe “Yes Men” recently held a fake press conference posing as members of the Chamber of Commerce in which they stated the organization supports climate change legislation.
Travis Martinez, University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service
Republican Senators on the Environment and Public Works Committee Tuesday are boycotting the first session of the committee’s markup of the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, or Kerry-Boxer bill, in an effort to urge the committee to submit the legislation to the Environmental Protection Agency for economic analysis.
Democrats on the committee expressed their displeasure with the absence of the Republican members, with Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) dubbing the missing Republican members as being “AWOL.”
“Frankly, I’m shocked these Republicans have evaded this markup,” Lautenberg said.
The only Republican Senator who appeared with the committee was Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio). The Senator spoke as a “mock spokesman,” as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) put it, explaining that he, along with his Republican colleagues, are ready to work with the committee and the EPA in a bipartisan fashion under proper circumstances.
“As the leader of this committee, I hope you will make the right decision, for the sake of my constituents, for the sake of bipartisanship and for the future of this country,” Voinovich told Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.).
Voinovich stressed the importance of putting the bill through a full economic evaluation with the EPA before the markup process continues.
“While I believe that S.1733 will likely move forward with policies that I oppose, I can’t imagine why we would move ahead without the best information possible from the agency that will be charged with implementing the legislation,” said Voinovich.
At the close of Voinovich’s remarks, in a sign of bipartisanship, Voinovich shook hands with Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and offered to work with the majority party through the markup process.
Boxer reiterated throughout the markup that Republicans will be more than welcome to join the committee later today and through the rest of the process.
“The door will be open, and I encourage the Republican members to join us at work to get the job done,” said Boxer
The committee will stop the markup at 2:30 to allow testimony to be heard from EPA officials.
