Senate Democrats Force Climate Bill Through Committee Despite Republican Boycott

Democratic senators on the Environment and Public Works Committee dismissed a Republican boycott of the panel's markup session and passed a climate change bill 11-1, with only Sen. Max Baucus of Montana opposing. When Republicans refused to attend markup sessions, committee chairwoman Sen. Barbara Boxer of California used an obscure procedure that allows a bill to be voted out of committee by a simple majority without considering amendments. The bill would mandate a 20 percent reduction in the United States' carbon emissions by the end of the next decade.

"This was an extraordinary experience, and in many ways a bonding experience," Boxer said of the unusual procedure. Fellow Democrat Thomas Carper of Delaware, who has worked closely with coal mining states to develop language that would attract votes, expressed uneasiness with the move. "I don't like this process and I don't think any of us do," he said. Baucus said he could not support the legislation without several changes.

"This wasn't easy, but her commitment was resolute," said Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), who co-sponsored the bill with Boxer. "Today's step in the process sends a clear message to the world that the United States is serious about tackling climate change and securing our clean energy future."

Republicans decried the move, warning that what Boxer's move would come back to haunt Democrats when the legislation reaches the floor. "Once again Barbara Boxer's shrill partisanship has turned away moderates in her own party and killed any opportunity to work across party lines," said Amber Wilkerson Marchand, a spokeswoman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. "Next year Barbara Boxer will be forced to explain to voters why she decided to break her own committee's rules in order to ram a contentious bill through the Senate that even members of her own party deemed too costly."

Other Democrats objected as well, including Sen. John Rockefeller (D-W.V.) "Requiring 20 percent emission reductions by 2020 is unrealistic and harmful -- it is simply not enough time to deploy the carbon capture and storage and energy efficiency technologies we need," Rockefeller said in a statement.

On Wednesday, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said he would work with Democrats outside of committee to write a climate bill his party could accept.