A bill to combat global climate change took a step forward in the Senate this week, but under circumstances that aren't encouraging.
The Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works spent the week marking up a bill authored by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., the committee chair, and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. The committee went over it page by page, making changes as needed, and reported it out favorably. But it was a one-sided debate, because committee Republicans boycotted the meetings.
Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, the ranking Republican on the committee, said the boycott was in response to Boxer's refusal to delay consideration of the bill until a more detailed economic analysis could be done. But there's plenty of analysis available to the committee, and we suspect Inhofe, who has called global warming "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people," already has his mind made up.
The House has already approved a credible, if limited, bill. The version taking shape in the Senate could be both more bipartisan and more effective than the House bill. Kerry and Sen. Lindsey Graham, D-SC, are pushing for Republican priorities, including expanded nuclear power and more offshore oil exploration, to be added to the Democratic priorities in the bill.
The Boxer-Kerry bill must go through several other committees before it can reach the Senate floor. We hope this isn't the kind of obstructionism we can expect in the months ahead. The American people need a serious debate on global warming and, with the Copenhagen talks coming up next month, the world is watching.
Bipartisanship takes two parties. If Senate Republicans want to help solve critical problems, they need to come to the table.
