GOP Senators Warn Boxer on Climate-Bill Strategy

By IAN TALLEY
WASHINGTON -- Six ranking Republican U.S. senators Monday warned the head of the environment committee that pushing ahead with a vote on a landmark climate bill this week would "severely damage" the chances of passing the legislation.
Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Sen. Barbara Boxer (D., Calif.) has said she's prepared to begin consideration of the climate bill Tuesday despite objections by GOP committee members who want a full economic analysis of the proposal.
The six panel members said they would try to block passage of the bill through committee by not attending the scheduled markup. Under committee rules, at least two members of the minority are needed to vote on legislation.
Ms. Boxer then indicated she may try to push the bill through committee without the Republicans: Senate rules allow bills to be approved in committee by a simple majority. The chairwoman urged her GOP colleagues to reconsider their decision and "come back to work."
"This bill has had comprehensive legislative hearings, with 54 expert witnesses in nine panels," Ms. Boxer said in a statement Monday. "No climate bill has ever had this level of review and the Obama Administration stands behind the EPA's analysis," she said.
The ranking members of the six committees responsible for considering different provisions of the bill -- including the environment, finance, foreign relations, agriculture, energy and commerce panels -- said in a letter to Boxer they are "deeply troubled" by the chairwoman's plan to move ahead without the comprehensive analysis.
Although the Environmental Protection Agency has issued a short analysis of the Senate bill, the agency said a comprehensive analysis wouldn't be finished for a few more weeks.
"While such analyses are never perfect, they are an essential aspect of the legislative decision-making process when policy changes of such consequences are in play," the ranking Republican senators wrote.
The bill -- which sets a falling cap on greenhouse gas emissions and allows companies to buy and sell the right to emit -- would affect nearly every sector of the economy.
Moving ahead with a committee vote without the EPA analyses or resolving some of the concerns raised by both GOP and Democratic members, "would severely damage, rather than help, the chances of enacting changes to our nation's climate and energy policies," the ranking Republicans said in the letter.
Environment committee Republicans "are not opposed to a markup, only on holding one before we have a full economic analysis," said Matt Dempsey, a spokesman for the GOP members on the panel, in an email over the weekend.
Few political analysts believe the Senate will this year consider a climate bill on the chamber floor, as a raft of other committees also want their chance to craft the legislation and other major priorities are vying for the Senate's attention. Lawmakers first have to finish the health-care debate, and there are financial-services restructuring and several appropriations bills to consider.
Ms. Boxer and administration officials would like to have the landmark climate legislation passed out of committee as one trophy they would be able to take to a major international climate summit in Copenhagen next month. Such action could provide some assurance to other governments that the U.S. is serious about passing into law new rules to cut greenhouse gases, giving the Obama administration greater leverage in its talks.
Write to Ian Talley at ian.talley@dowjones.com