I’m keeping close watch over debate on the Waxman-Markey climate bill in the House Energy and Commerce Committee. (Grist … sitting through hours upon hours of markup so you don’t have to!)
We’ll spare you the blow-by-blow and just give you the scoop when there’s big news. But the true political junkies waiting at the edge of their seats for news can tune in to my Twitter feed or our collective climate-bill feed for up-to-the minute information.
The short story: Debate on the bill is trudging onward very, very slowly. Democrats have passed a flurry of minor amendments — nothing too exciting. And though Republicans have offered a number of amendments meant to weaken the legislation, they’ve had very little success, with only one amendment passing so far.
Undeterred, Republicans still intend to offer more than 400 amendments to drag out debate on the bill as long as possible. On both Tuesday and Wednesday, debate lasted late into the night. If they can’t kill the bill, they’re going to try to kill us by boredom in the process.
To stave off the tedium, I’ve been keeping an eye on the League of Conservation Voters’ new blog that tracks the wacky things climate skeptics are saying on the Hill.
Speaking of, here’s video of Smokey Joe Barton (R-Texas), the king of Republican deniers, discussing the climate bill on C-SPAN Tuesday. Money quote: “Something that the Democrat sponsors do not point out, a lot of the CO2 that is created in the United States is naturally created. You can’t regulate God. Not even the Democratic majority in the U.S. Congress can regulate God.”
