As Moe foreshadowed on Tuesday, SENATOR Barbara Boxer decided to make an end-run around Republicans on the Senate Enviromental and Public Works Comittee by voting on cap-and-trade legislation with no republicans present. The Briefing room reports today on the SENATOR’s rule-breaking:
Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) today on Fox News said that committee rules dictate that at least two members of the minority must be present when meeting. Boxer held a vote on the legislation, which passed 10-1, but no Republicans were present for the vote.
Republican members of the committee have been boycotting the hearings all week because the legislation has not yet been scored by the Environmental Protection Agency.
“That was unprecendented, I think the bill is dead,” Inhofe told Fox.
Inhofe points out that SENATOR Boxer rammed this through despite objections from 6 ranking members of other committees. As Moe noted, there is virtually no chance Boxer’s bill will survive now. SENATOR Boxer may have torpedoed her own bill, so great was her lust to quash debate and mow over any republican objection, in keeping with this Congress’ current SOP.
All of which is pretty funny to have in the press day after the SENATOR’s office released the following statement on her website:
