House Votes To Kill EPA Climate Rules

Politico reports:

House lawmakers sent a loud message to the White House on Thursday: They want to obliterate the Obama administration’s climate rules.

The chamber voted 255-172, primarily along party lines, to nullify the EPA’s greenhouse gas regulations and the scientific finding they’re based on. No Republicans opposed the bill, but 19 Democrats broke ranks with their party to support the measure.

The resounding vote knocking down greenhouse gas regulations is far from surprising. House Republicans have made upending climate rules a top energy priority since they took over the majority, and EPA’s defenders in the chamber couldn’t do much to stand in their way.

The bill, (H.R. 910) from Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.), and his deputy on energy issues, Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), would repeal EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.

Republicans’ rebuke of EPA’s rules will no doubt energize their base, but the House bill is going nowhere fast.

A companion measure failed Wednesday in the Senate, winning only 50 votes — 10 short of the 60 needed for passage as an amendment to a small-business bill. And the White House earlier this week pledged to veto the bill if it managed to reach President Barack Obama’s desk.

Overcoming a veto would require two-thirds support of those voting in the House — 290 if all 435 members vote — and 67 of 100 senators.

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