House climate amendment battle set with science vote on tap

Wednesday’s House floor battle over a GOP-led bill to scuttle EPA greenhouse gas rules will include votes on a dozen Democratic amendments, including one that will put lawmakers on record about whether they believe humans are causing climate change.

The House Rules Committee on Tuesday evening released the ground rules for the debate on Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton’s (R-Mich.) bill.

Among the amendments slated for a vote Wednesday: A proposal from Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the energy panel’s top Democrat, that would add a section to the bill stating:

“Congress accepts the scientific findings of the Environmental Protection Agency that climate changes is occurring, is caused largely by human activities, and poses significant risks for public health and welfare.”

Waxman and other Democratic opponents of the bill say it's an affront to the scientific consensus that warming is occurring and human actions — notably burning coal and oil — are a major cause.

But the bill’s backers are focusing on what they allege will be job loses and other economic harms stemming from regulations.

Other amendments slated for votes Wednesday include:

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee’s (D-Texas) amendment that would mandate a study of the effects of banning EPA regulation; Rep. Jerry McNerney’s (D-Calif.) amendment to clarify that voluntary climate change programs may continue; and Rep. Bobby Rush’s (D-Ill.) amendment that would prevent the bill from going into effect until the federal government certifies that failing to regulate would not jeopardize U.S. security.

A series of amendments that would have renamed the bill were rejected.