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Boxer moves climate bill despite GOP boycott. Agree?
November 5th, 2009, 7:38 am · 94 Comments · posted by Dena Bunis, Washington Bureau Chief
No Republicans were at Boxer's panel to vote on climate bill.
Sen. Barbara Boxer’s Environment and Public Works Committee decided 10-1 to send her and Sen. John Kerry’s global warming bill to the full Senate despite not one Republican member being there for the vote.
GOP lawmakers have insisted the committee should not have gone ahead without a more thorough analysis of the bill, which caps greenhouse gas emissions. Boxer and the Democrats brought an Environmental Protection Agency official to the panel this week who said there’s no point in doing another review until a bill that combines the work of six Senate committees is ready.
“I have not been able to find a time when a bill has been marked up without minority participation,’’ said the senior Republican on the committee, Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma.
Inhofe was in the committee room at the start of this morning’s meeting. He made a statement and then left before Boxer called for a vote. Inhofe reiterated the minority’s request for a full blown Environmental Protection Agency analysis of S1733, the Clean Energy Jobs and American Clean Power Act.
Boxer repeated her insistence that EPA had done a complete analysis. “I so regret you weren’t here when the EPA was here senator ,’’ Boxer said before Inhofe left. On Tuesday EPA associate director David McIntosh said it would not be useful to do another analysis of the impact of this bill before it was amended and merged with measures from other committees. Such an analysis would cost $135,000 and 1600 staff hours of work, he added.
“We believe we were fair, more than fair,” Boxer said after the vote. “We tried to meet every objection the Republicans have. This is a step in the process. Our colleagues are working towards a comprehensive bill. We will join them.”
The bottom line of what happened this week is that Inhofe and all the Republicans on the committee would have voted no on this legislation. Inhofe has long believed there is not a man-made global warming problem. Most of his other GOP colleagues have said they agree something has to be done but that the cap and trade solution the Democrats prefer would hurt the economy of their states.
Because the Democrats have a 60-vote majority in the Senate, the minority has to use whatever tactics it can to stop legislation it opposes from going forward.
Democrats see the Republican move as just such a stalling tactic. Reid had planned to bring a global warming bill to the floor this year. But because the health reform bill has gotten so bogged down, it has increasingly become clear that climate change would have to wait until next year.
The week-long feud between the seven GOP members of this committee and the 12 Democrats mean the climate change issue is now in the hands of Majority Leader Harry Reid. Reid will now have to meld the work the six panels with jurisdiction on this issue. He will also have to sift through the many amendments that lawmakers on Boxer’s committee had planned to offer before the bill went to the Senate chamber but couldn’t because of the GOP boycott.
Inhofe and the Republicans called Boxer’s action the “nuclear” option, something that would euphemistically blow up the Senate.
Boxer said she was following the rules. Committee rules say at least two minority members must be at a mark-up - where bills are debated and amended. So that means a Democratic-only panel could not make amendments to the bill Boxer and Kerry proposed. But the rules also allowed the committee to report a bill to the full Senate with a majority vote.
Sen. Max Baucus of Montana was the only Democrat who voted not to send the climate change bill to the full Senate. Baucus has been opposed to parts of the bill, particularly the requirement that greenhouse gas emissions be cut by 20 percent by 2020 is too high. He prefers the 17 percent standard set in the House bill.
But Baucus said he is “committed to passing meaningful and balanced climate change legislation” and would work to get the bill changed on the Senate floor.
With six committees having some jurisdiction over this issue, Boxer wanted to get her panel’s work done and to Reid so he could have a full bill ready for Senate action early next year. The further it gets into 2010 election year the harder it would be for such legislation to get passed. The House has already passed a climate change bill.
At the early part of the meeting, Inhofe referred to a letter from four GOP senators who are seen as moderates on this issue to the EPA asking for the analysis the Republicans want. The letter was signed by Sens. Olympia Snow and Susan Collins of Maine, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
What could be key about that letter is whether these GOP senators will continue wot work with Democrats on this issue despite the partisan feud.
Graham has already co-authored an op-ed with Kerry supporting a global warming bill. And the other three senators are from states that have taken their own actions on this issue.
Boxer had her own letters to add to the record. A group of power companies, including Exalon, wrote to Boxer asking her to proceed despite the GOP boycott.
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DENA BUNIS, Washington bureau chief, 202-628-6381 or dbunis@ocregister.com
BRIAN JOSEPH, Sacramento correspondent, 916-449-6046 or bjoseph@ocregister.com
JENNIFER MUIR, County government reporter, 714-796-7813 or jmuir@ocregister.com
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It’s typical of the Democrats to think that they can change the whole world by themselves.
funny i thought that’s what the republicans did the last 8 years
Just for your info it was a democratic majority in the house and senate that passed all the crap you are now complaining about…
what exactly am i complaining about? since it’s obvious you know what i’m thinking. also JUST FOR YOUR INFO, the republicans were the majority in the house in 2001, and from then on throughout the bush administration they were the majority in both the house and senate. it wasn’t until the beginning of the 110th congress in 2007 that the powers started shifting again. do your research thorough before you speak.
107th congress (2001-2003)
the senate majority with 49% of the vote were Dem.
the house majority with 51% of the vote were the Rep.
108th congress (2003-2005)
the senate majority with 55% of the vote were Rep.
the house majority with 52% of the vote were the Rep.
109th congress (2005-2007)
the senate majority with 55% of the vote were Rep.
the house majority with 53% of the vote were the Rep.
110th congress (2007-2009)
the senate majority with 55% of the vote were Rep.
the house majority with 52% of the vote were the Rep.
and of course today with the 111th congress (2009-2011)
the senate majority with 60% of the vote are Dem.
the house majority with 59% of the vote are the Dem.
correction on my post about the 108th and 110th congress. I read the percentage and numbers wrong, and I’m owning up to the error and making the corrections below.
108th congress (2003-2005)
the senate majority with 51% of the vote were Rep.
the house majority with 52% of the vote were the Rep.
110th congress (2007-2009)
the senate majority with 50% of the vote were Dem.
the house majority with 54% of the vote were the Dem.
It’s typical of the Democrats to try to save our environment and the planet.
it’s also typical of them to waste billions on phony environmental causes thinking they’re accomplishing anything, just to garner a few votes.
What’s creating global warming?…The hot air coming from Boxer’s mouth.
“[The] Cap-and-trade scheme is a government intervention par excellence, not a “market solution…….the cap-and-trade bill is the largest tax increase ever to be inflicted on a population in the history of the world.” Vclav Klaus, CZ
Boxer is just like obama, hurting our country and no clue how to make america better. They are destroying our freedoms and indepence from other countries! Just look at the healthcare bill. Its a lie-we can’t afford it and it will cost us even more.
Can you say higher Taxes!
LOL linda. Typical that they think they can CONTROL everything all by themselves. Typical liberal attitude of “YOU don’t know what’s good for you, I know what’s good for you. So shut up while I “help” you.”
Hopefully we can repeal the majority of this garbage once the nutbag Nannies have been stripped of their God complex.
They’re going to bankrupt us.
Linda WAKE UP! The fact of the matter is that she is following the rules, AND wanted her Republican collegue’s input, but they didn’t even bother to show up! I’d like to see what you’d do in her shoes-sheesh, how callous and insensitive you are!
Actually, she did NOT follow the rules. For a bill to be voted out of committee requires two votes from the minority.
Remember, Boxer did not allow any minority input into the bill, only liberal wants regarding taxing and spending. AGW is a liberal political concept, not science.
Yeah, and Galileo made up the heliocentric model of the solar system because it was all part of his plan to undermine the Catholic Church…
She, and all the libertards that voted for this bill are IDIOTS. Just wait and see what happens next year. The VA and NJ elections are just a precursor to the beat down that the Democrats will receive. This congress, some Republicans include are not a voice of the people, they are not representatives of the people, they are selfish power hungry men and woman who have their own self interest in mind. We need to vote these idiots out of federal and state governments.
I definitely agree. The arrogance of the capitol elites is beyond shocking and apparently no limits.
No matter what the believers of the Global Warming is man-made say, the “science” is far from settled. Even their own computer models cannot explain why the warming has stopped.
Last year it was the polar bears were drowning but this year their population census shows increasing numbers of bears.
No matter that we “found” 500,000 acres of “missing” ice that fueled the cry of the ice is melting. Just because a satellite tracking probe was improperly located the ice field (the size of California) got “lost.”
These GW cap and tax bills will finish off our economy for generations. The Feds are spending trillions of dollars that they just continue to print. Obama is going to be a one-term president and we are saddled with generational sized debt.
Tar and feathers is way too easy on those folks. They are evil.
Hmm, so all of that glacier ice that has melted in the Arctic, you don’t think that’s a big deal, right?
alleykat: “…all that” glacier ice that has melted? What did you do to come up with that, take a tray of ice cubes out of your refrigerator and forget to put it back?
No, ice melts, it is part of the Earths cycle. Human beings have been on this Earth for but a short period of the Earths life. We have NO CLUE how this Earth really operates. Most scientist can’t even get a weather forecast right, let alone what has happened for billions of years, or even what is yet to happen.
Um, the NJ election had nothing to do with Congress. BTW, the Democrats actually gained a seat in NY-23 that had never gone blue. Governor’s seats mean nothing. And BTW, the two Democrat governors were DINOS…people on the left didn’t want them, either.
Spin Spin Spin Spin
FYI -
Jerry Brown is also a “DINO” (1 year younger than McCain was when he ran vs. Obama), who has already sucked at all his previous government posts. but hey, governors don’t mean anything.
Isnt it ironic that the republic party that whines about our gandchildrens money going to pay for wars that they started and the collapse of our economy that they watched happen and did nothing about couldn’t care less if these same kids they constantly use as a prop for their propoganda have a planet thats liveable. Just obstructionist politics.
You must be a product of California’s excellent public school education. I do not know what is more pathetic, your analysis or your grammar.
why yes as a matter of fact Newport harbor High 1986, thanks.
writeon: Exactly, “R.A.L.T.” is another uneducated loser with his hand out.
THATS RIGHT! Since g.w. and his henchmen destroyed capitalism I will suck off of the rich that were the only ones to benefit from his regime.
R.A.T is more like it
Democrats controlled congress since 2006. Most of the issues related to the economic collapse happened on their watch. That is an “inconvenient truth”. Presidents don’t appropriate funds…Congress does. Perhaps you should read The Constitution.
So then we are in agreement that 9/11 was bush the torturers respnsiblity beacuse it HAPPENED on his watch with many warnings from the previous administration.
I recommend reading the definition of “agreement” in any reputable dictionary. There is no sense trying to have a civil or logical discussion with you. If you think that any one person or any one political party is entirely responsible for 9/11 or the economic recession and mortgage crisis than you are a simpleton.
I think it was the terrorists who flew two planes into the World Trade Center and another into the Pentagon that declared war on this country first. Would you rather that we’d done nothing and just hunkered down preparing to absorb the next blow?
that little war in Iraq that was shoved down the American public throats by the war criminal regime of cheney and bush with lie after lie is an illegal war.
First, answer the question. Second, the entire Congress sanctioned and funded the war…Republicans and Democrats. Is that the same kind of force that is trying to “shove” healthcare reform and cap-and-trade “down the American public throats”? No, it is not.
You may not want to admit it but almost EVERYONE sanctioned the war in the months after the attack. It was 8 years later that they tried to pretend like they didn’t because it was the politcally expedient thing to do. They are reeds in the wind. They have no spine, virtue or compass.
When the current administration ursurped 150 years of bankruptcy law and handed GM and Chrysler to subordinated union interests instead of those with legal priority claims to tangible assets, that was illegal, immoral and irresponsible. Using tax $ to payoff your political allies is not acceptable conduct in this country.
Yeap you all are against the common-sense, And then when things go wrong, you are the first ones to run for goverment help.
We are in such mess NOT because the Democrats, because of you all. You were the ones voting for the Criminals-republicans for 8 years.
You should all have the decency (At least) to look at yourselves.
And Instead of critizied, Do Something for the Country. And for the Planet.
Here’s another one: Jc. He’s probably “R.A.L.T.” using another handle.
Boxer needs to get real. The real problem is the economy, not some feel good legislation that will not affect the global warming theory but will affect the economy with more costs for businesses and less jobs for Americans. Boxer should move to fix the economy and not kowtow to quasi environmentalists. Remember, “global cooling” was the worry 20 years ago!
When the Republican party takes their marching orders from the likes of beck, limbaugh and Dobbs, (all who don’t believe that the earth is warming do to man made issues, and that Great pacific garbage patch is a hoax), of course they are not going to show up to the committee meetings. As much as I dislike Boxer (hopefully a moderate Republican NOT endorsed by those entertainers mentioned above or Palin, can defeat her), the Republicans are refusing to participate, which is sad, as they are not acting in the best interests of the people who put them in Washington, but rather, are bowing to millionaire entertainers beck, limbaug, et. al.
We have a one party govt. Your vote does not count. No matter what you expect you elected officials to do, they do the opposite and then spit in your face. When are you going to realize it is your lack of understanding of the game that is causing the problem. They are all playing the same stupid little game of control, and you all believe that it is real. Wake up!
Every time you point the finger and try and try and blame the other side, you are playing the game. The enemy is the referee and the league, not the other team. The reason they exist is so that you can fight. Wake up! Stop fighting, See the real problem. All incumbants should be lynched.
Kinda like when the rthuglicans took over in 2000 right?
Boy, I hate to think someone like you might have children…very sad.
The ONLY Criminals here are the Democrats and Republicans no
differance… they just want to think so….
Global Warming is one more way for AL Gore and his buddies to
make more MONEY !!!! MR… I invented the INTERNET????
What a JOKE… they can’t even manage the Government what makes you think they can SAVE a PLANET…
Just as a point of clarification, Al Gore NEVER claimed to invent the internet. That is a conservative urban legend created for conservative propaganda in a false attempt to discredit Gore.
What he DID claim, is that he helped create legislation to expand the internet beyond government and educational institutions in order to create THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY accessible to Joe Public…..which is exactly what he did.
BUT OMG HE SAID HE CREATED TEH INTERNETZ LOL.
The media sure didn’t help in propagating this myth, either.
The interview took place on March 9, 1999 during CNN’s “Late Edition” show. Specifically, what Gore said was “I took the initiative in creating the Internet.”
Tomato, tomatoe. It’s still a gross exaggeration of his role which he has been prone to do. The other day he claimed on MSNBC that he had been promoting green technology for the last 30 year…a patently, blatantly and grossly false claim. He also claimed that investing in green companies according to his “beliefs” while promoting global warming theory and lobbying to direct government (e.g. tax $) funding to companies he owns positions in is not a conflict of interest. That’s pretty ballsy.
You got a link to a transcript or a video of that interview? I bet that partial sentence, if it occured at all, was taken out of context or incomplete in the quotation.
But in any event I think we know what he meant…which is pretty much what I research because they seem pretty minor to me.
Boxer ,fienstein, reid, polosi, sanchez, all retards and anti-american.no other word for them..vote them out people..the blind leading the blind they are..
Boxer and Fienstein both need to be removed from office.
Boxer sure won’t. Don’t hold your breath. Go ahead and nominate Fiorina. She’s a bigger joke than Palin.
I think Feinstein is a much better representative than Boxer. I don’t have many qualms with Feinstein but Boxer is an embarrassment to the State of California.
This paper is so ridiculously biased. No wonder it’s going bankrupt. Looking forward to reading “The Voice of OC” when it comes out. A bit of balance is needed!
An alternative to the Register? The Lord be praised! The letters to the editor and the blog responses are so unbelievably dimwitted that I keep looking to see if some of them are signed by Archie Bunker.
Archie was smarter than most that post here.
A-men!
alleykat: Sure, that’s good–just read the SF Chronical and the Scroatumento Bee. You’re certain to get enlightenment from those rags.
Obviously I don’t read it. I meant Chronicle. No, I meant SF Joke.
More power to her. This will supply fodder for the Republicans in this upcoming re-election cycle, as well as giving her props within her own base. Should make for fun.
As a disenfranchised republican I feel so betrayed by there leadership.
Where are the ideas the plans.
While I don’t agree with the plans the Dem’s are proposing they are attempting to deal with real problems. The GOP instead of working to create good alternatives to solve real problems they are just become name calling obstructionists.
It’s sad to see a once great party ruined by small minded selfish radicals.
While I agree the GOP has a great opportunity to win future elections because of the Obama Boxer leadership, It wont happen until the GOP starts leading and creating new ideas.
Unfortunately we will probably have the same group of extreme right wing nut cases ruining the party so get reading for eight years of Obama
Read what the President of the Czech Republic, Vclav Klaus, has to say about this nonsense:
http://klaus.cz/klaus2/asp/clanek.asp?id=G2mBVPC6Q3ik
“After trying several alternative ideas – population bomb, rapid exhaustion of resources, global cooling, acid rains, ozone holes – that all very rapidly proved to be non-existent, they came up with the idea of global warming.”
Right.. none of those other things exist and nobody has ever been harmed by them. They’re still threats, even if they haven’t destroyed the planet yet
“Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of government. The history of liberty is the history of resistance. The history of liberty is a history of the limitation of governmental power, not the increase of it.” Woodrow Wilson
Obviously, Sen. Boxer believes that only the government is so wise and benevolent that it alone can solve problems. Hold onto your checkbooks folks, Sen. Boxer thinks they are a natural resource for her and other liberals to spend and squander as they please. Evidence be damned!
So give me another plan to deal with climate change. Give me a purely market-based solution that will solve the issue, and I will listen loud and clear.
There isn’t an issue. The earth’s climate has been changing since the beginning of time. In the 70s there was a big “global cooling, next ice age” bandwagon that many scientists jumped on. There are plenty of scientists who beleive that global warming is bunk. Did it ever occur to you that the researchers who champion global warming theory arrive at the conclusion that gets them an extension on their grant or perhaps a new grant?
If you eliminated all human activity from the planet the climate would still change. It is not entirely man made and there are certain variables that we have absolutely no control over…like the sun!
Also, my post was about big government and not global warming. Sen. Boxer believe that government control is the best state. I believe that personal liberty is a better alternative and so did Woodrow Wilson (D) which is why I pasted the quote. You see, not all Democrats are liberals like Sen. Boxer. Liberals who willingly sacrifice personal liberty at the altar of some cause they hold in their opinion to be just or right.
I don’t want representatives that would rather coerce, force or trample the people rather than listen to them.
Look man, I respect and cherish personal liberty as much as any normal human being. But personal liberty does not mean that everyone should be able to do whatever they want. That’s why we have laws against things like, you know, murder. Government laws can be a _protector_ of individual liberty and freedoms just as much as they can be a threat.
You don’t believe in global warming- fine. Let’s talk about industrial waste or some other kind of pollution. If you don’t want the government to create laws or regulations that prevent harmful activity to the environment, what is your solution? How is the free market going to solve any of those problems by itself?
Do absolutely nothing.
From the data I saw, if you believed the numbers coming out of the global warming or climate change(pick one) crowd, they are claiming due to CO2 rise that the planet’s temperature will rise 7 degrees over the next 100 years. Never mind that the earth’s temperture has been acting like a sine wave over the last 100 years, and it has been cooling since 1998. If the planet Earth stops using (that means everyone, even those pesky Chinese) gasoline and electricity for 35 years, that will have only 1 degree F impact. If that is true why is Senator Boxer wasting all our time? wouldn’t her time be better spent pushing through a Health Care Bill for the Sea Lions?
Global warming or climate change appears to be just another ruse to push thru more nanny state programs.
• How much more will Americans take? When will enough be enough? And, when that time comes, will our leaders finally listen or will history need to record a second American Revolution? —Chuck Norris, March 9, 2009
• We think it’s time to draw the line in the sand and tell Washington that no longer are we going to accept their oppressive hand in the state of Texas. That’s what these Texans are standing up for. Because there’s a point in time where you stand up and say enough is enough. And I think Americans, and Texans especially, have reached that point.” —Texas Gov. Rick Perry, speaking at an April 9, 2009 press conference in support of a state sovereignty resolution
So long and good riddance Texas! And Chuck Norris, the karate guy? You must be kidding. Your chance at a “revolution” is to vote for your preferred candidates. Yep, that’s what we did, but right-wingers refuse to believe they are no longer the majority. I am confounded by that.
Yeah so long and good riddance Texas…the last think we need is a state that runs effectively and provides citizens a good quality of life. I tell you want sanctuary city mom, in 5 years Texas will still be strong and growing while CA will still be in its same sorry current state. Whats sad is I am a born and bred California native-but if you dont see the bleak future ahead and instead choose to condemn one of the few states that has been a model of fiscal responsibilty you really deserve to go down with the ship.
Uh huh, read on:
“Under George W. Bush’s leadership, Texas ranks number one in a many categories of pollution and environmental degradation. For example, Texas is:
* #1 in the Emission of Ozone Causing Air Pollution Chemicals
* #1 in Toxic Chemical releases into the Air
* #1 in use of Deep Well Injectors as method of Waste Disposal
* #1 in counties listed in top 20 of Emitting Cancer Causing Chemicals
* #1 in Total Number of Hazardous Waste Incinerators
* #1 in Environmental Justice Title 6 complaints
* #1 in production of Cancer causing Benzene & Vinyl Chloride
* #1 Largest Sludge Dump in Country”
Enjoy your sludge-dump Texas PARADISE! Oh, if that’s not enough, here’s some good ‘ole Texas education stats:
* Texas is #49 in verbal SAT scores in the nation (493) and #46 in average math SAT scores (502).
* Texas is #36 in the nation in high school graduation rates (68%).
* Texas is #33 in the nation in teacher salaries. Teacher salaries in Texas are not keeping pace with the national average. The gains realized from the last state-funded across-the-board pay raise authorized in 1999, which moved the ranking from 33 to as high as 26th in the nation, have disappeared over the last five years.
* Texas was the only state in the nation to cut average per pupil expenditures in fiscal year 2005, resulting in a ranking of #40 nationally; down from #25 in fiscal year 1999.
* Texas is #6 in the nation in student growth. The general student population in Texas public schools grew by 11.1% between school years 1999 and 2005, with the largest percent of growth seen among low income and minority children.
* Between school years 1999 and 2005, the number of central administrators employed by Texas public schools grew by 32.5%, overall staffing in public schools grew by 15.6%, while the number of teachers grew only 13.3%.
OMG, quoting Chuck Norris and Rick Perry…..HILLAROUS!!!!!!
ROTFLMAO!
Why all of the respect for what any European has to say now? Just a short time back the right wing nuts villafied anything coming out of Europe except when it came to CIA extrodinary endition.
Chuck Norris and Rick Perry are not European. Maybe you’re thinking of J.C. VanDamme. Are you drunk RaLaT?
No, republidemoron, he’s obviously referring to the Czech Republic’s President as mentioned a few posts above.
Yes and rick perry is just a hack anyway.
Boxer proves the truth in the adage, “decisions are made by those who show up.”
The GOP didn’t show up.
these liberals are gong to have a war on their hands soon enough. obama and his friends must be deleted from the white house immediately.
A coup d’etat, huh? Great plan- let me know how that works out for you. I won’t bother pointing out the irony in the fact that you plan to overthrow the U.S. government because you think Obama is planning to overthrow the U.S. government…
It’s called an ELECTION, formerdem. I’m sure you’ve heard of them….we just have one a year ago and again the other day.
If you are so right, you will be in the majority and Obama will be gone along with all the other pesky liberals. If you are not, they will remain.
And if you want to start a war against our duly elected President, I’d call that TREASON.
That’s what the 2nd amendment is all about. To keep the federal government in check. That’s not treason at all. It’s a safeguard for our way of life.
Cap and tax is just another big government interventionist program which will do nothing other than make US companies less competitive internationally, raise consumer prices here at home, and make the big government folks feel good.
Flush them all. Replace them all, democrats and republicans alike. Get rid of the career politicians and put in a new batch that really “serve” the people.
The GOP snubbed the meeting. They took the chance that this would happen. The GOP played hard-ball, Boxer called their bluff and the GOP lost.
It will be a different ballgame in the Senate altogether IF the GOP learned their lesson here.
or once Pelosi and her ilk are voted back to the soup line where they belong.
How long have Pelosi and her “ilk” been in office now? Seems to me we keep sending them back. Why don’t you move to Texas and join the little tea-bagging seccissionists there?
once again a flawed poll… a simple yes or no would do (not that we need this ridiculous bill)
Five of you guys use this tape as message exchange. Leave comment and get out. You want to talk to each other - find better way to do it. All five of you obviously doing nothing all day to be able to do this. All this nothing doing does not allow you to grasp reality and apply basic common sense and logic in your exchanges.
Boxer needs to be thrown out of office, as this State needs leadership not pandering and balderdash. She is harming the State and the Country with our outlandish Behavior.
Actually, the key thing here is that republicans were absent by choice. Itslike not showing up to a baseball game, and complaining about the forfeit.
Yep its fair. The Republican’s stated they would boycott.
They did and Boxer called their bluff.
No one may like it but its nothing more than a poorly constructed GOP strategy. They should have thought this out better.
In addition the poll slants the numbers. It’s a yes or no question. The question was not do we need a climate bill or not. The question was
“Did Boxer do right moving the climate bill without GOP being there?”
When you remove the not applicable responses the answer to the poll was:
•63 Yes. These Republicans were just obstructing
•28 No. There was no rush. She should have waited them out.
Missed one..
121 There is no climate change.
Okay, Texas or California. Which is better? Let’s compare.
Texas: Low taxes, no state income tax, low cost of living, low home prices (a fraction of California’s), low gas prices (again, a fraction of California’s), high overall wages, no Nanny State government.
California: Highest overall taxes in nation, out-of-control government and government spending, usurious utility rates (Edison’s “tiered” rate structure, with the PUC’s blessing, is four times the national average of 11 cents a kwh), high cost of living, second highest minimum wage but depressed economy and no job market, scandalous home prices, no water (thanks to enviro-nuts), unelected Air Boards and Legislature regulating everything in sight, Schwarzenegger’s quixotic “Global Warming Solutions Act.”