WASHINGTON — A bill that would set tough emissions limits on U.S. industries cleared a Senate panel Thursday, after two days of a bill-writing session boycotted by Republicans.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved the bill 10-1 that aims to slash greenhouse gas emissions and boost investment in alternative-energy technologies.
Sen. Max Baucus, the Montana lawmaker who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, was the only Democrat to vote against the measure.
Republicans sat out the vote.
Members of the GOP were all but absent this week as Sen. Barbara Boxer, the California Democrat who chairs the panel, conducted the committee’s “mark up” or bill-writing session. Republicans said they didn’t have enough analysis of the bill or time to consider it.
The measure faces scrutiny by five other committees before it reaches the Senate floor.
The bill would set up a “cap- and-trade” system, which sets limits on pollutants and allows utilities and other emitters to trade pollution permits among themselves.
The bill targets a reduction in pollution of 20 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050 from 2005 levels. Proponents such as Boxer and co-sponsor Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., say the bill will clean the environment and create new jobs, but Republicans say the bill amounts to a huge tax on U.S. industries and families.
A similar measure already has passed in the House.
MarketWatch
