The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved climate change legislation Thursday with no Republicans voting for the bill or even participating in the process.
The GOP - aka Party of No - membership of the committee didn't bother to show-up for the meetings, hearings, & etc. So the Democrats went ahead with the process, ignoring them.
To quote kcurie, "je, je, je, je."
Now, of course ...
"I am here to appeal to you and the members of the committee," Sen. Jim Inhofe, the top Republican on the committee, said in a brief statement. "In the history of this committee, we have not been able to find a time when the bill has been marked up without minority."
To which Boxer responded ...
"This is not a procedure we wanted; it's a procedure that's available to us," said Boxer. "The majority has to be able to do its work...otherwise the whole Senate could come to a screeching halt."
Boxer has called the GOP's bluff, shown the way forward. If the GOP senators want to be relevant to the process they have to be involved in the process.
When's Harry starting ?? keep to the Fen Causeway
My take, using data as the plural of anecdotal :-), is Reid is a good tactician and a lousy strategist. In the 2006 to 2008 Senate he was about the best we could hope for. Now, not so much. Having a Senate Majority leader depending on his seat in a Swing State, with an election next year, is a disadvantage when pushing Obama's legislative agenda given the GOPs intransigence.
