Will Senator Tim Johnson side with the partisan tyranny, or will he stand up for rural South Dakota by pulling a Baucus:
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved climate change legislation Thursday with no Republicans voting for the bill or even participating in the process.
With Republican boycotting the proceedings, Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) relied on a little used interpretation of committee rules to move the legislation. Traditionally, two minority members are required to conduct committee business.
Boxer said that she passed the bill “in full accordance with long-standing committee and Senate rules.”
“This is not a procedure we wanted; it’s a procedure that’s available to us,” said Boxer. “The majority has to be able to do its work…otherwise the whole Senate could come to a screeching halt.”
Republicans called Boxer's move the “nuclear option,” warning that it violated decades of committee precedent.
“I am here to appeal to you and the members of the committee,” Sen. Jim Inhofe, the top Republican on the committee, said in a brief statement. “In the history of this committee, we have not been able to find a time when the bill has been marked up without minority.”
A Republican committee member visited the committee daily this week to deliver a short statement laying out GOP objections to the process.
Top Republican committee leaders and several moderate members — including climate bill leader South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham — have sent letters this week in support of the boycott.
Eleven Democrats voted for the bill, enough to give the legislation a majority of the 19 members on the committee.
Montana Sen. Max Baucus was the only Democratic to vote against the bill, citing concerns about the agriculture provisions included in the legislation.
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