Democrats Proceed With Committee Debate On Climate Bill Despite GOP Boycott

November 3, 2009 2:18 p.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) was the sole Republican who attended the Senate Environment panel's first day of debate on a climate change bill crafted by Committee Chair Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA). The GOP had said on Monday they would boycott the markup because they had not received an analysis of the measure from the Environmental Protection Agency.

"By the actions of the committee today, we are moving forward without information that could affect fundamental decisions as to how we consider and potentially amend this bill," Voinovich said in his opening statement during the hearing.

"We're talking about reporting to our colleagues a 1000 page bill to fundamentally restructure the American economy without the best information possible," he added. "Let EPA do what it needs to do, and let's come back in 4 to 5 weeks and have a markup."

Boxer had urged the top Republican the committee, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), on Monday "with the utmost respect, to bring the committee Republicans back to work." She also wrote a letter to the minority members of her panel telling them debate would be suspended Tuesday afternoon so EPA can answer questions on the legislation, and that the deadline for amendments would be extended.

Inhofe had repeatedly made clear that markup should only be held after Republicans had received a chairman's mark, a score of the legislation from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, and a complete economic analysis from the EPA.

Boxer released a chairman's mark two weeks ago, but has yet to provide a full EPA analysis or estimates from the CBO. Last week, her committee held hearings on the bill over the course of three days, with 54 witnesses testifying, including Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn of the Military Advisory Board, Peter Brehm, vice president of Infinia Corporation's business development and government relations, and Barry Hart, chief executive of the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives.

The bill, proposed by Boxer and Kerry aims for a 20 percent reduction of carbon pollution by 2020 from 2005 levels, and 80 percent by 2050. The reductions will be done through a cap-and-trade system that will allow companies to buy and sell vouchers according to whether they want to pay for the right to keep polluting or gain the incentive for reducing emissions.

The system exempts all farmers and 98 percent of businesses, covering only the largest emitters in the nation --- initially about 7,500 facilities that account for three?quarters of nationwide carbon pollution.

In contrast, the climate bill passed by the House, dubbed the Waxman-Markey bill, requires most companies to buy carbon permits from the federal government. It seeks to reduce emissions by 17 percent in 2020, by 42 percent in 2030, and by 83 percent in 2050.The measure was passed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee in May by a vote of 33-25. The full House approved the measure a month later by a narrow 219-212 vote.

The National Farmers Union had voiced support for the Waxman-Markey bill after the Agriculture Department, and not the EPA, was made overseer in the measure's offset program providing credits to farmers who use environmentally sound practices. The House bill already has the backing of BP America, Caterpillar, Conoco, Johnson & Johnson, Shell, Siemens, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club.

But the NFU said in testimony before Environment Committee last week that the Senate bill "lacks the robust and flexible agriculture offset program necessary for America's farmers and ranchers to be able to mitigate increased costs that will occur as a result of a cap and trade program."

The American Farm Bureau Federation opposes both legislation.

"The principal bills in the House and Senate would.... cap emissions of greenhouse gases by limiting the use of fossil fuels. However, there is little in either bill that would provide an alternative source of energy to the fossil fuels that will be lost," AFBF President Bob Stallman told the panel.

Senate Republicans are pushing an alternative proposal that aims to build 100 nuclear powerplants over two decades, electrifies half of all vehicles over the same period, and uses oil found off-shore for the remaining energy needs of the nation. Boxer has included provisions on nuclear energy in her bill, but the GOP has said a cap-and-trade measure with or without nuclear power is still an energy tax.

"I have no problem acknowledging the problem, but I do have a problem with the proposed solution," Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), a senior member of the committee, said in a floor speech last week. "The National Academies of Science of 11 major industrialized countries, including the United States, have said that climate change is real and that humans are causing most of the recent warming."

"If fire chiefs with the same reputation said my house was likely to burn down," Alexander continued, "I would buy some fire insurance. I would buy fire insurance that worked. But I wouldn't buy insurance so expensive that I couldn't pay my mortgage or I couldn't pay my hospital bill."