Inhofe bashes Rockefeller’s claim that GOP abandoned block-EPA effort

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) – the Senate’s leading climate skeptic – didn’t take kindly to Sen. Jay Rockefeller’s (D-W.Va.) claim that Republicans are to blame for inaction on the West Virginia Democrat’s effort to halt looming EPA greenhouse gas rules.

“Now, as we have all along, Republicans look forward to working in bipartisan fashion to end EPA's job-killing regulations and restore balance and certainty to the regulatory process,” said Inhofe, the top Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee, in a statement Friday.

Rockefeller, blaming Republicans, admitted Friday that his bill to delay the rules for two years is dead until the next Congress.

But Inhofe quickly noted that in June the Senate turned back Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-Alaska) GOP-backed resolution that would have gone even further by stripping EPA’s power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions outright.

The prospect of action on Rockefeller’s less-aggressive bill helped siphon votes from Murkowski’s measure, Inhofe said. Murkowski’s plan failed on a 47-53 vote, although six Democrats (including Rockefeller) supported it.

“We had an opportunity to put an end to EPA’s job-killing cap-and-trade regulations when we voted on the Murkowski disapproval resolution—requiring 51 votes for passage—earlier this year. My friend’s promise, however, to push for a two-year delay as an alternative contributed significantly to the resolution’s defeat—a resolution, I would note, that he voted for,” Inhofe said.

He also accused Rockefeller of passing up chances all year to attach the two-year delay to various bills, which would have meant a 60-vote hurdle for passage.

Rockefeller earlier this week said he might seek to suspend Senate rules during debate on an omnibus spending bill to bring up his measure, which would have meant clearing an even higher bar – 67 votes – to advance it. But the Democratic effort to pass the omnibus fell apart Thursday anyway.

“The bar was raised each and every time, making more difficult to pass the two-year delay,” Inhofe said.