THE WESTERNER

Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.

Friday, November 06, 2009

Democrats Push Climate Bill Through Panel Without G.O.P. Debate

In a step that reflected deep partisan divisions in the Senate over the issue of global warming, Democrats on the Environment and Public Works Committee pushed through a climate bill on Thursday without any debate or participation by Republicans. The measure passed by an 11-to-1 vote with the support of all the Democratic committee members except Senator Max Baucus of Montana. The seven Republicans boycotted the committee meetings this week, saying they had not had sufficient time to study the bill and demanding that the Environmental Protection Agency conduct a thorough study of its economic costs and benefits. The move suggests that President Obama and Democratic supporters of the bill will have serious problems assembling the votes needed to enact it when it comes to the Senate floor, probably not before next year...read more

2 comments:

Anonymous said...: The procedures for the U.S. Senate are really clear: draft bills are called forward, debated, and objections placed in the record including insufficient time to study the bill and lack of verified information. That's what makes the Republican boycott seem illogical...everything they wanted in terms of raising objections could have been obtained by simply going to the committee meetings and debating. Instead, their actions are de-facto defautling to a one party system. It makes no sense...unless they have another agenda.; 1:36 PM
wctube said...: The measure passed by an 11-to-1 vote with the support of all the Democratic committee members except; 7:21 PM