The Senate on Wednesday rejected a proposal 93-7 that would have prevented the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating greenhouse gases for two years.

The amendment, sponsored by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.), stands in contrast with a Republican proposal that would permanently ban the EPA from creating such regulations.

The House Rules Committee on Wednesday announced an emergency meeting at 5 p.m. to approve a rule for H.R. 1363, the one-week spending bill that would cut $12 billion in one week and fund the Defense Department for the rest of FY 2011.

The Rules Committee meeting is a sign that negotiations on a longer-term budget deal are not progressing. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Wednesday said the House would vote Thursday on the bill, and said that while some progress was being made, the talks were "not finished."

Democrats on Wednesday said they could not support H.R. 1363, which cuts too much and yet increases defense spending by 1.5 percent.

The Senate defeated an amendment in a 93-7 vote Wednesday that would have exempted farmers and some small businesses from the Environmental Protection Agency's greenhouse-gas regulations. 

Prior to the vote, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who sponsored the bill, argued that small companies and farmers ought to be exempt because a small group of large companies emit the majority of carbon emissions into the atmosphere. 

While most Democrats on Wednesday opposed the GOP's bill to restrict the Environmental Protection Agency authorities, three Democrats spoke in favor of it on the House floor and said failure to rein in the EPA would hurt job creation in rural areas of the country.

The House was debating H.R. 910, which would prohibit the EPA's regulation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) was the first Democrat to speak out in favor of the bill, and rejected the idea put forward by other Democrats that the bill should be called the "Dirty Air Act." He said letting one agency decide how to regulate GHG is putting too much authority into a single agency.

"No single government agency, however, is sufficiently positioned to tackle the complex solution that's required to address carbon emissions," he said. "The answer has to be multi-pronged."

Senators sparred Wednesday over a controversial amendment to ban the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating the emission of greenhouse gasses.

The Senate is expected to vote on the amendment later on Wednesday.

Republicans described the EPA regulations as an overstep.

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Members of the House on Wednesday approved a rule for considering H.R. 910, which would strip the EPA's ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

The House approved the rule in a 250-172 vote in which 12 Democrats voted with Republicans.

The House has an hour for debate on the bill and then will consider a dozen Democratic amendments.

House Republicans on Wednesday said legislation limiting regulation on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is needed to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from imposing de facto taxes on U.S. companies, while Democrats warned limiting the EPA would set back decades of progress on the environment.

The debate took place in the context of the rule for H.R. 910, the Energy Tax Prevention Act, which would prevent the EPA from regulating GHG. Republicans see this as a needed step given the EPA's effort to do through regulation what Democrats cannot pass through Congress, such as a cap-and-trade policy.

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) said in his opening remarks in the debate that the Clean Air Act should not be used as a basis for EPA regulations on GHG and that only Congress should have this right. Sessions said GHG regulations would cost hundreds of billions of dollars in the coming years and for that reason, the bill would help save jobs.

"It's a jobs-protection bill," he said.

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) on Wednesday put forward a motion to adjourn the House shortly after noon in order to force the two parties to negotiate a FY 2011 budget agreement. Jackson also protested a Republican proposal to pass a one-week spending measure that would cut $12 billion from the budget while funding Defense spending for the rest of the year.

“That’s no compromise,” he said. “For months, the Republicans have said that as we reduce spending, everyone has to take a haircut — including the Department of Defense. But now, the Republicans propose increasing military spending.”

Jackson cited a press report saying Republicans were cheering the prospects of a government shutdown.

“So if the Republicans won’t compromise at the negotiating table, maybe we should get everyone down here to the floor to talk things over,” he concluded. “Mr. Speaker, I move that the house do now adjourn.”

Jackson requested a recorded vote at about 12:30 p.m., but it failed 36-367. All 36 “yes” votes came from Democrats, and 141 Democrats voted with Republicans not to adjourn the House.

—This post was updated at 12:55 to reflect the vote results.

Freshman Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) delivered a resounding endorsement of small government principles during her maiden speech Wednesday on the Senate floor, citing the New Hampshire motto "live free or die."

“We believe strongly that government should not and cannot get in the way of each of us reaching our full potential,” said Ayotte. “That’s what 'live free or die' means.”