Senate Panel Reports Climate Bill Out of Committee

On November 5, the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee reported out the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act (CEJAPA, S. 1733) with 11 Democrats in favor and one, Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), against. All seven Republicans boycotted the EPW markup of CEJAPA, arguing that they needed a full economic analysis of the bill by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) before they could propose amendments. "A Majority of the EPW Committee voted to send the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act to the floor of the Senate today in full accordance with longstanding Committee and Senate Rules," EPW Chair Barbara Boxer (D-CA) said. “We are pleased that despite the Republican boycott we have been able to move this bill forward."

As the EPW Committee reported out the legislation, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said he would ask the EPA to spend five weeks reviewing the potential costs of the bill before bringing it to the full Senate floor. "The committee's action today is a critically important step toward crafting a good strong clean energy and climate bill," Reid said in a statement. "There is much more work yet to do to obtain broad support for bipartisan legislation that can quickly put our nation on a path of reducing emissions cost-effectively and creating jobs and a cleaner more secure future."