Marathon Pundit: McConnell-Inhofe Amendment on EPA overreach fails; George Allen slams vote

Wednesday, April 06, 2011

McConnell-Inhofe Amendment on EPA overreach fails; George Allen slams vote

The bad news is that the McConnell-Inhofe Amendment failed to pass the Senate, it failed 50-50--sixty votes were needed to move out of the upper chamber.

The amendment would have barred the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases.

The good news? The Democrats handed the Republicans another issue for the 2012 elections, one which the majority of Americans will side with the GOP.

Four Democrats voted with 46 Republicans for McConnell-Inhofe. Sadly, one GOPer, Susan Collins of Maine chose to allow the EPA to pursue its anti-jobs and anti-business policy.

Virginia Democrat Jim Webb was not one of those four. He is not running for reelection. His predecessor, and the man who also wants to replace him, Republican George Allen, issued the following statement:

Today's vote by Senators Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer and their liberal allies against the McConnell-Inhofe amendment to prohibit the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases is a vote against American economic growth and job creation. The Democrat-controlled Senate has decided to abdicate its Constitutional legislative responsibilities and outsource our energy and economic future to an unelected, unaccountable bureaucracy. The consequence of this decision is that American families, farmers and manufacturers will now be seriously threatened with the increased cost of electricity, gasoline and food. By failing to permanently bar the EPA from regulating carbon emissions, Senate Democrats have passed what amounts to a massive tax increase on American consumers that will cost us American jobs, harm employers and hurt Virginia families already struggling with high gasoline prices. Can we expect other countries to impose similar burdens on their citizens? If not this amounts to American economic unilateral disarmament.