House Republicans join fight to block EPA

House Republican leaders, following in the footsteps of two Democratic chairmen, introduced a measure on Tuesday to block EPA from regulating greenhouse gases.

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Energy and Commerce Committee ranking member Joe Barton (R-Texas), along with 84 other Republicans, signed on to a congressional “resolution of disapproval” to prevent EPA from using the Clean Air Act to force emissions reductions.

“Congress has the right to act on this and has an obligation to speak and we’re going to work with our Democratic colleagues to try to generate enough support in the House” for the resolution, Boehner said.

Republicans claim EPA regulations would stifle economic growth. Barton called the EPA’s endangerment finding, which is the legal underpinning of its efforts to regulate greenhouse gases, “fatally flawed.”

The resolution is thought to face a high hurdle in the House, however. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is a strong proponent of greenhouse gas curbs and EPA's efforts.

But a few Democrats are also backing a resolution to block federal regulators from proceeding. Last Thursday, Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) and Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) submitted a nearly identical joint resolution to declare that “the rule submitted by the Environmental Protection Agency relating to the endangerment finding and the cause or contribute findings for greenhouse gases … shall have no force or effect.”

Democratic Reps. Charlie Wilson (Ohio) and Travis Childers (Miss.) and Republican Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (Mo.) are supporting the Skelton and Peterson resolution.