“Environmental Champion” Boxer Delays Climate Bill Until Fall

This was supposed to be a big week
for action on climate change in the Senate -- but it's ending with
Republicans rubbing their hands in glee as the Environment and Public
Works Committee delays its unveiling of legislation on carbon emissions.

Senate environment committee chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) (Photo: AP)

As Reuters reports this afternoon:

Just two weeks ago, Boxer advised supporters of transportation reform to "work with me on my global warming bill" as she called for a quick rescue of the nation's highway trust fund.

The highway account is expected to run dry in mid-August, sending Congress and the Obama administration scurrying to find $20 billion to keep state-level road projects funded until the end of 2010.

Boxer's
postponement of a climate debate in her committee may well be an
acknowledgment of the challenge lawmakers are facing to rustle up that
$20 billion by month's end -- especially given that House
transportation committee chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN) is refusing to budge on his commitment to a new transportation bill this year. The delay in climate may also be driven by the uncertainty surrounding a global pact on emissions reduction.

No matter what, however, the environmental news out of the Senate today is not good.