The Senate Enviromental and Public Works Comittee's ranking member on Thursday accused chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) of breaking the panel's rules by passing climate change legislation this morning.

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) today on Fox News said that committee rules dictate that at least two members of the minority must be present when meeting. Boxer held a vote on the legislation, which passed 10-1, but no Republicans were present for the vote.

Republican members of the committee have been boycotting the hearings all week because the legislation has not yet been scored by the Environmental Protection Agency.

"That was unprecendented, I think the bill is dead," Inhofe told Fox.

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Democrats quashed a three-day Republican boycott and passed global warming legislation today using a procedural move that could undermine support from moderate lawmakers should the bill reach the floor.

Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and nine Democrats signed off on the climate bill -- without considering amendments -- after trying without success to wait out Republicans.

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) voted against the legislation because he could not get his issues addressed, including a less aggressive set of emission limits in 2020. Baucus explained that he would play a role as the debate moves forward as chairman of the Finance Committee and as a senior member of the Agriculture panel.

"I'm going to work to get climate change legislation that can get 60 votes through the U.S. Senate and signed into law," Baucus added. Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) did not vote.

Ranking member James Inhofe (R-Okla.) urged Boxer not to pass the bill, adding that Republicans still hold firm in their belief that U.S. EPA should conduct a more thorough economic analysis before committee members vote.

"In the history of this, we've not been able to find a time when a bill has been marked up without minority participation," Inhofe said.

Boxer and other Democratic allies insisted that the bill is but one step in the process and that EPA had already done enough work to give lawmakers adequate information

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has given the chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee the go-ahead to advance global warming legislation by Tuesday if Republicans have not ended their boycott by then, according to three sources close to the process.

Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) originally wanted to push forward tomorrow with debate and votes on amendments to the 959-page climate bill.

But the sources say Reid urged Boxer to wait until Tuesday, Nov. 10. The markup was originally scheduled to begin yesterday, but the committee's GOP members are boycotting in an effort to force U.S. EPA to further study the climate proposal.

"Makes them look like the 'party of no,'" one source said. "Makes them look frivolous."

As of press time, Boxer was huddling with EPW Committee Democrats to discuss their strategy on the climate bill over the coming days. As she entered the closed-door meeting, Boxer said she would remain in the Capitol into the evening for Republicans to return to the negotiation table.

Aides to Boxer and Reid declined comment on the schedule that Reid and Boxer discussed earlier this week. But Boxer earlier today signaled she was losing her patience with Republicans after they twice ignored her deadline for submitting amendments and also rebuffed two offers to publicly question a top EPA official about the models that the agency has already run on the House-passed bill and its Senate counterpart.

U.S. Senator George V. Voinovich sent the following letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson today questioning the need for, and motive behind, this afternoon's repetitive EPA briefing of the EPW Committee:

Dear Administrator Jackson:

I understand that your staff will be briefing the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works today on the agency's assessment of S. 1733, the Kerry-Boxer bill. I assume the purpose of this briefing is three-fold: to allow EPA to explain why its work on S. 1733 provides enough detail for the committee to move forward with consideration of the bill; to allow EPA to explain that there are only minor differences between S. 1733 and H.R. 2454, the Waxman-Markey bill; and to allow EPA to explain why its analysis of Waxman-Markey addresses all of the concerns expressed by many of my colleagues and me.

I appreciate the Chairman's willingness to provide additional time to deliberate over EPA's work before proceeding to a markup. Additionally, I appreciate your staff providing the committee with an explanation of its work. However, I question the need for this briefing. The issue before us is not whether we understand EPA's 38-page discussion paper on S. 1733 and its current analysis of Waxman-Markey. Rather, the issue is that the committee lacks a full analysis, with modeling runs, of S. 1733. Having a briefing does nothing to change that.

E&ENews: 6 GOP ranking members urge Boxer to slow down - Six senior Senate Republicans warned the chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee today to slow down in her bid to move global warming legislation, saying she risks severely damaging chances of passing the bill on the floor. The ranking members of the six committees with jurisdiction over the climate bill delivered a letter to EPW Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) saying they were "deeply troubled by the failure to accommodate" Republican requests for more information about the proposal. They also questioned Boxer's decision to begin marking up the bill tomorrow "without sufficient opportunity to address the bipartisan concerns raised over the course of legislative hearings on the measure."

CQ: Markup Spat Could Cost Climate Bill Support - A quarrel over a Senate chairwoman's effort to put climate change legislation on a faster track threatens to dash hopes for bipartisan support of the measure on the floor..."It's not the best gesture," said Chelsea Maxwell, a partner at the Clark Group LLC, an environmental lobbying firm, and a senior climate adviser to former Sen. John W. Warner of Virginia (1979-2009), last year's lead Republican cosponsor of a climate change bill. "It's going to make it very difficult to convince the fence-sitting Republicans that they will be treated with respect if they come to the table."

Politico: "She poisoned the waters," said one Democratic aide. - Barbara Boxer may not only force her climate bill through the Environment and Public Works Committee without any Republican votes; aides say she could also do it without any Republicans in the room at all. Boxer (D-Calif.) could exploit a loophole in committee rules that will allow her to approve the bill with a simple majority of the 12 Democrats on the committee, even if no Republicans are present. Republicans have vowed to boycott the proceeding. This end run around Republicans - ignoring the usual rules that require at least two Republicans to be present for a quorum - could further hinder the chances for an already troubled cap-and-trade bill. "From our viewpoint, such an approach would severely damage, rather than help, the chances of enacting changes to our nation's climate and energy policies," wrote the top GOP senators on the six committees with jurisdiction over climate change legislation. Regardless of what happens in her own committee, Boxer's bill will most likely undergo a significant overhaul in other committees. But her freelancing on the process would only give Republicans one more easy argument against the legislation, Democratic aides say. "She poisoned the waters," said one Democratic aide.

Houston Chronicle: Boxer Maneuver Could Jeopardize Efforts - WASHINGTON - Democratic leaders of a key Senate committee on Monday vowed to forge ahead with climate change legislation despite a planned boycott by Republicans on the panel. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee she heads would begin working on the global warming bill today - with or without the Republicans...Any maneuver by Boxer to advance the bill without Republicans in the room could further polarize relations on the committee and jeopardize efforts by Kerry and Sen. Joseph Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, to broker a bipartisan compromise on the legislation. "I'd urge everyone to come back to the table, re-engage and work together to move the process forward," Kerry said, noting that previous congressional efforts to combat global warming have been bipartisan.

The top Republicans on six committees with jurisdiction over the Senate climate bill have sent a letter to Environment and Public Works committee Chairman Barbara Boxer urging her to back off of her decision to force the bill through the committee without Republican participation.

Democrats will need bipartisan support to overcome a possible filibuster of the legislation when it reaches the full Senate. Sen. John Kerry, (D-Mass.), and Lindsay Graham, (R-S.C.) have been working to build GOP support for the bill.

But Boxer's push to pass the bill out of committee, warn Republicans, could backfire.

"From our viewpoint, such an approach would severely damage, rather than help, the chances of enacting changes to our nation's climate and energy policies," the Republican senators wrote

WashPost: Climate bill faces hurdles in Senate - DEMOCRATS DEEPLY SPLIT (November 2, 2009) - The climate-change bill that has been moving slowly through the Senate will face a stark political reality when it emerges for committee debate on Tuesday: With Democrats deeply divided on the issue, unless some Republican lawmakers risk the backlash for signing on to the legislation, there is almost no hope for passage. Like the measure adopted by the House, the legislation favors a cap-and-trade system that would issue permits for greenhouse gas emissions, gradually lower the amount of emissions allowed, and let companies buy and sell permits to meet their needs -- all without adding to the federal deficit, according to projections. But key Republicans are making their opposition clear, even as Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) has enlisted Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) as his most visible GOP ally in gathering support for the bill. Sen. George V. Voinovich (Ohio), a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee who was initially seen as one of the few Republicans who might consider backing the majority, is helping lead the opposition. "Why are we trying to jam down this legislation now?" he asked during a hearing last week. "Wouldn't it be smarter to take our time and do it right?" He wrote Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson twice this summer to ask for a more detailed economic analysis of the House-passed climate legislation, and he has joined the other six Republicans on the committee in boycotting the climate bill's markup, scheduled for Tuesday. The measure has deeply divided Democrats. With states in the Midwest, South and Rocky Mountain West dependent on fossil fuels for energy, many senators are worried about the legislation's impact on industry and consumers. "I think at the end of the day, the people who turn the switch on at home will be disadvantaged," Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) told CNBC on Friday, explaining why he did not think the bill Kerry had sponsored along with Environment and Public Works Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) could pass.

E&E News Boxer pushes ahead with "Toxic" Maneuver (11/02/2009) - Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) plans to proceed under a rarely used interpretation of the committee's rules that allows her to start and finish the markup so long as a majority of the panel's members are present, rather than longstanding precedent requiring two minority members to be in attendance, according to sources on and off Capitol Hill. Boxer's justification for the move is that Republicans are trying to stall on a climate bill that they have no intention of voting for anyway. And with a 12-7 majority favoring Democrats, she does not need their support to report the bill favorably. "We believe that there's no reason for them to stay away," Boxer told reporters last week. "It'd be remarkably bad faith if they did."...But some question whether Boxer's efforts now could foretell trouble as Kerry tries to work with moderate Democrats and Republicans. A former Senate Democratic staffer warned that an end-run around the committee's process may not be the best strategy when appealing to swing-vote senators. "That product is totally toxic," the former staffer said. "It's basically worthless." Wheeler, the former EPW Republican staff director, said that Boxer's move to bypass longstanding rules could hurt the Democrats' chances on the floor for winning the votes of committee members like Voinovich and Alexander, as well as GOP moderates off the committee like Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, and Judd Gregg of New Hampshire. "They all believe in the process and minority rights," Wheeler said. "The fastest way to ensure that no Republican ever supports this is to do something like that."