Boxer, Kerry Prepare to Introduce Senate Climate Bill

Senators Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) will introduce global warming legislation on Wednesday after nine months of closed-door deliberations. The pair said they expect hearings on the bill to start next month, admitting that it will be a "starting point" for winning over skeptical senators.

"I hope what we've done is constructive and well-received," Kerry, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said. "I have no pretensions, and neither does Barbara, that this will be the final product. It is a starting point, a commitment, full-fledged, across party lines to do what we need to do to protect the planet for the next century."


After deliberation, the bill will head to Environment and Public Works Committee, which Boxer chairs, for markup before eventual conference with the House. The House passed a climate bill earlier this year, which involved representatives of coastal and industry-heavy districts. The Boxer-Kerry bill uses H.R. 2454 as a template, but will go for an even more aggressive 20 percent target for carbon emissions by 2020.

Boxer, Kerry Set to Introduce Climate Bill in Senate [New York Times]