Senate backs Obama on EPA's CO2 authority

President Obama won a big victory Thursday when Democratic senators upheld the power of the Environmental Protection Agency to combat global warming by regulating greenhouse gases. Supporters of the EPA's powers under the Clean Air Act garnered the votes of 53 senators while 47 senators - all 41 Republicans and six Democrats - backed the resolution by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, to override the agency. Murkowski contended that the issue was "whether Congress or unelected bureaucrats of EPA should set climate policy for this country." Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., accused the Obama administration of "going around the legislative branch and imposing this massive job-killing tax on Americans through an unaccountable agency." Obama praised the Senate's vote and said it kept the nation from going "backward to the same failed policies that have left our nation increasingly dependent on foreign oil." The White House earlier had threatened to veto the measure if it reached the president's desk...more

The most recent example of a disturbing trend - the legislative branch delegating it's authority to the executive. Whatever happened to the separation of powers? This is one of the dangers when one party controls both branches.

In this case the Dems don't care about such constitutional niceties; they just want to use the threat of EPA regs to force cap and trade legislation on the public.