From Rob Hotakainen in Washington:
It's Barbara Boxer's big moment on Capitol Hill, and Republicans want nothing to do with it.
The California Democrat, who heads the Senate's environment committee, wants to begin marking up her long-awaited climate-change legislation on Tuesday. But Republicans are planning to boycott the meeting.
Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, the top-ranked Republican on the environment committee, said Republicans will boycott the meeting because the issue has not been studied enough. Among other things, he wants the Environmental Protection Agency to do more analysis of the bill, which would place mandatory limits on the emission of greenhouse gases.
Boxer today urged Republicans on the committee to "come back to work" and help Democrats pass the legislation.
"Now is the time for action to move America toward clean energy and away from foreign oil, to create jobs, and to protect our children from pollution," Boxer said. "The committee Republicans should rethink their approach. As long as they refuse to come to work, they are not participating in one of the most important issues facing our generation."


Torey Van Oot and the Bee Capitol Bureau report on the people and politics of California government. Get
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