House Republicans expect Dem backing for plan to kill climate rules

Key House Republicans expect to officially introduce a bill in the next week that would permanently block the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gas emissions.

Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), a co-author of the legislation, said Tuesday that he expects to have Democrats sign on to the bill as co-sponsors.

The discussion draft, which was unveiled in February, was co-authored by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Whitfield, who chairs the panel's Energy and Power subcommittee. Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) floated companion legislation in the Senate.

In recent weeks, the authors of the legislation have been working with moderate Democrats to try to win support for the bill, which would block the EPA’s climate rules for stationary sources.

“We’re still working with the Democrats. We want to get some Democratic support, and I think we’re making some progress,” Whitfield said Tuesday night. “We’ve had some discussion with a lot of them, and we’ve got some support.”

Asked if any Democrats would sign on as co-sponsors, Whitfield said, “Yes,” but declined to give specifics.

Whitfield said Democrats have pushed for changes to the legislation, but he would not expound on those changes except to say, “There are some issues relating to renewables.”

Republicans on the committee will hold a markup of the bill "soon," Whitfield said.

Whitfield also touted recent comments by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who wrote a letter to President Obama on Monday calling on the administration to rethink its climate regulations. But Brown would not commit to a specific legislative proposal Monday night in comments to reporters.