GOP All Set To Wimp Out On EPA?

GOP All Set To Wimp Out On EPA? Human Events

A key Republican is already laying the groundwork for the 112th Congress' surrender on the EPA's climate rules. More surprising is the complicity of a Tea Party group.


Rep. Fred Upton, the chairman-designate of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, co-authored an op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal with the promising title, "How Congress Can Stop the EPA's Power Grab."


Now that we face the prospect of flagrantly illegal, arbitrary, expensive and pointless regulation of greenhouse gases by the EPA, I was eager to read how the new Congress was going to, say, slash the EPA's budget to prevent it from implementing the climate rules or perhaps shut down the federal government if the Obama administration proceeded with its plan to dictate energy policy in order to control the economy. ...

Earth to Upton: It will be impossible to overturn or delay the EPA rules because:


There will likey be more than 40 Democrat senators to filibuster any effort to overturn or delay the rules. Likely filibuster-ers include Mark Begich (Alaska), Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), Barbara Boxer (Calif.), Michael Bennet (Colo.), Joseph Lieberman (Conn.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Thomas Carper (Del.), Chris Coons (Del.), Bill Nelson (Fla.), Daniel Akaka (Hawaii), Daniel Inouye (Hawaii), Richard Durbin (Ill.), Tom Harkin (Iowa), Benjamin Cardin (Md.), Barbara Mikulski (Md.), John Kerry (Mass.), Carl Levin (Mich.), Debbie Stabenow (Mich.), Al Franken (Minn.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Jon Tester (Mont.), Harry Reid (Nev.), Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), Frank Lautenberg (N.J.), Bob Menedenz (N.J.), Jeff Bingaman (N.M.), Tom Udall (N.M.), Charles Schumer (N.Y.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Kay Hagan (N.C.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Ron Wyden (Ore.), Robert Casey (Pa.), Jack Reed (R.I.), Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), Tim Johnson (S.D.), Patrick Leahy (Vt.), Mark Warner (Va.), James Webb (Va.), Maria Cantwell (Wash.), Patty Murray (Wash.), and Herb Kohl (Wis.). Most of these Senators already voted last June against the Murkowski amendment to roll back the EPA rules under the Congressional Review Act.


Read the whole article here.

Comment: Let me ask two obvious questions: what is the economic condition of the above mentioned states whose senators would filibuster; and are they voting according to their state's prerogative or their own?