As if the political rancor coming out of Washington, D.C., these days wasn’t hot enough, Senator Barbara Boxer of California cranked it up a notch last week when she used a procedural tactic dubbed the ‘nuclear option’ to advance her global warming bill out of the committee she chairs.
In late September, Boxer and Massachusetts Senator John Kerry unveiled their blueprint for setting mandatory caps on carbon dioxide emissions and imposing a nationwide trading scheme for pollution allowances and credits.
Three days of hearings were held by the Environment and Public Works Committee in late October, with Chairman Boxer aiming for speedy committee approval of Senate Bill 1733 – that is until Ranking Member Jim Inhofe, Senator Kit Bond and other minority committee members requested further economic analysis from the Environmental Protection Agency which would undoubtedly slow the process.
Anxious to move cap-and-trade legislation so that President Obama can point to progress when he and other world leaders discuss a global warming treaty next month, Chairman Boxer employed a tactic – the so-called ‘nuclear option’ – to advance her bill.
At least two members of the minority party must be present to mark-up and approve a bill under Senate rules, but a proposal can move out of committee without a minority member present as long as it isn’t amended. This maneuver, to our knowledge, had never been used in the Environment and Public Works Committee.
Senator Bond responded to the action by saying “I guess Senator Boxer was too afraid to find out what her bill would actually cost America’s families, farmers, and workers.” Ironic is the fact Chairman Boxer is quick to use the ‘nuclear option’ to move her bill, but slow to take meaningful action to bring new nuclear power online in the near future.
