Senate Panel Delays a Vote on Air Bill

[Syrinx]

WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 - A Senate committee vote on a major air pollution
bill was postponed on Wednesday after the chairman determined that he
lacked the votes to send the bill to the full Senate.

Expressing hope that two more weeks of negotiations would lead to a
compromise on the measure, the Clear Skies Act of 2005, Senator James
M. Inhofe, chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee,
said: "We're going to get together in a genuine effort to determine if
there is a middle ground. This gives us the time to do that."

The panel had met to produce a final version of the bill before a vote
that Mr. Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma, seemed intent on having. In
a prepared opening statement, Mr. Inhofe said, "Today represents the
last opportunity to move this process forward," adding that a full
Senate debate was unlikely if the committee did not vote to send the
bill forward.

But he never read his remarks as it became apparent that the bill
would fail, a disappointment for the White House, which has lobbied
extensively for its passage. After a 30-minute delay, while Republican
committee members conferred to map a strategy, Mr. Inhofe returned to
announce that the committee would try again on March 2 to bridge gaps
over issues like caps for carbon dioxide and one state's right to sue
another over windblown pollution.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/17/politics/17enviro.html

[BayCityProgressive]

The Dems

had better veto this.

[BayCityProgressive]

1. The Dems

had better veto this.

[meow2u3]

2. The "Clear Skies Act:", a.k.a. the Polluters Protection Act?

That explains why there aren't enough votes to get this Orwellian sham of a bill out of committee. Clear skies, my :dem:!

:bounce::party::bounce: