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.

Republicans Boycott Climate Change Markup

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.

America needs to become a leader in the "green fight"

by Suzia Van Swol, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

"We believe we will in fact create millions of jobs, millions of green jobs, if this is done. We will become energy efficient, we will save money and energy costs, we will invest in new technologies, and we will be the leader," said Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-CA). She was joined by additional Senators at a press conference on releasing principles for global warming legislation. By coming together on very specific principles, Boxer says she believes "that this moment marks the beginning of our legislative effort" to pass global warming legislation.

"Raising the standard for fuel efficiency, the stimulus package, reducing our dependency on foreign oil, reducing the emission of CO2, improving our transportation system, are all good down-payments" said Sen. Thomas Carper (D-Del.), but the payment we really need is "a legislation whose principles are really laid out before all of us today. That is where the rubber hits the road. All the other is good, and all the other is important, but without this legislation, we are not going to get this job done."

Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) wants us to join in the fight together and says that this battle is like a burning house "the fact of the matter is that if we don't put out the fire as it is, the whole house will be consumed," and continued with the statement that we don't have the luxury of time.

People understand that there is a deep recession and a financial crisis in our country but Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) said that, "We also understand that if we don't get a handle on global warming, cut back on green house gas emissions, move towards energy independence, which people have talked about for decades, if we don't do that, the economic situation, not to mention the environmental situation, becomes worst."

"Our earth is sending out her warnings, and we must listen" said Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and "a green economy beckons us to a brighter future."