Kerry-Boxer Climate Bill Passes Committee Over Republican Boycott

Published November 05, 2009 @ 11:11AM PT

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) teamed up to author a climate bill that today passed the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee 11-1 over a boycott by Republicans, reports the Washington Post. The bill would impose a mandatory reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 20 percent from 2005 levels by 2020. Companies would buy pollution credits, the number of which will reduce over time, or trade permits with other polluters.

Committee Republicans didn't show up to vote, objecting on the grounds that the Environmental Protection Agency hasn't done a thorough enough economic analysis of the bill. Such an analysis, however, would have run up a price tag of $350,000 for taxpayers to shoulder.

That cost is a little steep for a piece of legislation that Kerry and Boxer have always held would just serve as an opening salvo in a long struggle to find agreement on workable legislation. "I have no pretensions, and neither does Barbara, that this will be the final product," Kerry told the New York Times in September. "It is a starting point."

To try getting further than just a step or two off the starting blocks, though, Kerry is working with Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) to come up with a compromise legislation that might satisfy members on both sides of the aisles, according to The New Republic.

Photo courtesy of cliff1066™ via flickr

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Katherine Gustafson is a freelance writer and editor with a background in international nonprofit organizations. Her articles, essays, and stories have been published in numerous magazines, newspapers, books, and Websites.