Los Angeles Times
Senate Republicans blocked a new effort to obtain Bush administration documents on global warming -- and did so today by doing nothing. (Boxer's effort to get broader access to the report, however, was turned aside. It takes two Republicans to join the majority Democrats to issue a subpoena. None showed up.)
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is already looking into whether higher-ups in the administration -- and perhaps someone in Vice President Dick Cheney's office -- tried to squelch a finding that global warming would harm the nation's welfare.
And the Bush administration has tried to turn aside the committee's efforts to subpoena the EPA administrator, Stephen L. Johnson, and another official as it tries to find out whether the Bush administration's refusal to let California implement a tailpipe emissions law was based on politics rather than on science and law.
Today, the Senate Environment Committee sought to subpoena EPA papers that Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who chairs the committee, said had concluded that "the welfare of the American people is endangered if steps are not taken to avoid the ravages of unchecked global warming." She read them under an agreement that blocks wider distribution.
No comments:
Post a Comment