Energy & Environment

Republicans are "rooting against" the U.S. and the world by way of their votes against climate change legislation, the economic stimulus, and healthcare reform bills, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) asserted Monday.

"They want to play politics and see if they can keep any achievements from being accomplished, for fear they might become beneficial to the Democrats," said Waxman, one of the principal authors of the climate change legislation passed by the House on Friday, on MSNBC.

"So they're rooting against the country," Waxman added. "And I think in this case they're even rooting against the world, because the world needs to get its act together to stop global warming. I wish they were playing a more constructive role."

Waxman said that his climate change legislation would have to "defy conventional wisdom" in the Senate, where many observers have said it would have trouble attracting enough Republicans and centrist Democrats to survive a filibuster.

"I think we have to defy conventional wisdom and move this important legislation forward," the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee said. "It's going to help us become more energy independent, and that's important for our national security."

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) deliberately withheld facts from a report on global warming in order to bolster the Obama administration's climate change initiatives, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) alleged Monday.

Inhofe said the EPA "absolutely" buried evidence undermining policy on global warming after a researcher's report claimed that carbon dioxide has had little effect on the environment.

"They've been cooking that science since 1998," Inhofe said during an interview on Fox News.

Inhofe argued that there should be a criminal investigation into the EPA report, as well.

"I don't know whether there would be or not," he said. "There could be, and there probably should be."

Inhofe is a longtime critic of the science on global warming; he called it "probably the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people" during the interview Monday.

The Oklahoma Republican also said that the climate change legislation passed by a narrow vote in the House on Friday would be "dead on arrival" in the Senate.

Watch a video of the interview below:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi invoked God last week in arguing for passing cap-and-trade legislation, and she did so in a nearly completely under the radar way.

The California Democrat inserted a passage into the congressional record after her remarks on the floor last Friday that included the following remark:

I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to protect God's beautiful creation by supporting this legislation.

Of course, she didn't really "urge her colleagues" since she didn't say it on the floor before the vote. Nevertheless, the bill passed with 219 votes.

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President Obama hopes to strip trade provisions that he thinks may be too protectionist from major climate change legislation.

The President made the remarks in an Oval Office interview with a select number of reporters.

At a time when much of the world is mired in recession, Mr. Obama said, "We have to be careful about sending any protectionist signals."

He said that certain energy-intensive American industries--like steel, aluminum, paper and glass--had legitimate concerns about competition from developing nations and that he would seek to level the playing field in international negotiations.

But he warned that trade sanctions that are based on the extent to which other countries curb carbon dioxide emissions might be illegal and counterproductive.

"I don't know if tariffs are the way," he said.

Nevertheless, Obama praised the House bill and urged the Senate to take up the legislation, though he did not set a deadline.

White House adviser David Axelrod said today that he expects the Senate to take up healthcare reform before addressing the climate change bill.

Meet the eight Republicans who will now incur the wrath of every conservative blog on the internet:

Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-Calif.)
Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.)
Rep. John McHugh (R-N.Y.)
Rep. Frank LoBiondo
Rep. Leonard Lance (R-N.J.)
Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.)
Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Wash.)
Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.)

These are the Republicans who voted for Waxman-Markey last night, and without whose support the bill would have been defeated. (44 Democrats voted against it.)

Conservative bloggers are already up in arms. Michelle Malkin has put up a "WANTED" poster with pictures of the eight "turncoats."

RedState has labeled them "Quisling Republicans," referencing the Norwegian traitor during World War II. He was later executed.

At least two of the Republican defectors--Kirk and Castle--are considering Senate campaigns in 2010.

The House of Representatives passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act tonight by a final vote of 219 to 212.

Eight Republicans voted in favor of the bill, with 44 Democrats voting against it.

The legislation--including the controversial cap and trade policy--faced fierce opposition from Republicans, who said it would cost American jobs.

Democrats, including the White House, promoted the bill as a means to combatting global warming, achieving energy independence and creating "green jobs."

Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) knew exactly what he was doing as he strode on the House floor to quasi-filibuster the American Clean Energy and Security Act tonight.

When asked beforehand by a fellow Republican what he had in store for his speech, Boehner quipped "just wait and see."

The Leader was seen relaxing and centering himself with a cigarette in the Republican cloakroom minutes before his epic floor speech.

Boehner controlled the microphone on the House floor for one hour as he read the 309 page leadership amendment.

--Michael M. Gleeson

House Minority Leader John Boehner did his best impression of a senator Friday evening, invoking his privilege to unlimited debate to stall a final vote on the Democratic climate change bill.

Boehner had been speaking at length about the amendment he said was "filed at 3:09am," which spans 300 pages. Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Henry Waxman interrupted Boehner, asking the acting speaker Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.) to stop Boehner's mock filibuster.

But under the rules, Tauscher let Boehner continue his speech. The official Twitter of the GOP Conference reported that Boehner will read all 300 pages of the amendment.

In a clear sign that Democrats need every vote they can get on climate change legislation, Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) has returned from medical treatment for alcoholism to vote on the bill.

Kennedy, who has missed every vote since going into rehab on June 12, was seen on the House floor talking to his Democratic colleagues.

The House is expected to vote on the climate bill on Friday evening.

The Waxman-Markey legislation represents tyrannical rule by the federal government, Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn.) said on the House floor moments ago.

If the legislation passes, "the federal government will virtually have control over every aspect of lives of the American people," Bachmann said.

The choice, Bachmann added, is stark and clear.

"We choose liberty, or we choose tyranny," she sad. "It's one of the two."