Reid Will Allow Vote on EPA and Climate Change
Huffington Post reports:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will allow a vote on legislation to block the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases for two years, he told reporters in the Capitol today.
Following his weekly press briefing, Reid (D-Nev.) was asked if the Senate wold vote on EPA preemption.
"Not before we leave here," said Reid, referring to the three-week congressional schedule ahead. "This year."
Reid's commitment to give preemption a vote this year means that it is headed to the Senate floor during a lame-duck session, meaning that lawmakers will be less accountable for their votes -- and those who aren't returning in January won't be accountable at all.
The commitment to give preemption a vote is related to an earlier fight over legislation from Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) that would have blocked EPA action. In order to defeat Murkowski's proposal, Democratic aides said, Reid promised holdout senators a vote on a two-year freeze -- a measure sponsored by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) -- later in the year.
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