Reid: EPA Will Not Trump Senate Climate Change Debate
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Thursday that the Obama administration’s decision to cut greenhouse gas emissions will not affect the climate change debate in the Senate this year.“I think they have the administrative right to do what she’s done,— Reid said of Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson’s announcement that the agency will compel the nation’s largest polluters to rein in their greenhouse gas emissions.Reid’s comments to reporters came one day after Environment and Public Works Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) unveiled a comprehensive climate change bill that aims to substantially cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. The bill, released one month later than expected, will have difficulty seeing floor action this year as the Senate begins considering a massive overhaul of the health care system. Reid indicated Wednesday that the health care bill, currently being marked up in the Finance Committee, could be on the floor in mid-October.