Senate Fails to Pass Resolution of Disapproval
Most reaction to the vote was disappointment.
Compiled by staff
Published: Jun 11, 2010
By a vote of 47 to 53, the U. S. Senate Thursday failed to pass the resolution disapproving EPA's efforts to regulate greenhouse gasses under the Clean Air act. Earlier in the day, Ag Committee chairman Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., and the committee's Ranking Member Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., both took to the Senate floor to appeal for support of the resolution championed by Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.
Lincoln pointed to EPA's Tailoring Rule as one example of the way EPA's approach to regulating carbon emissions goes wrong and Chambliss urged his colleagues to support the resolution. He said the actions EPA has taken and its plans to regulate greenhouse gas emissions is a backdoor tax on every American.
Reaction to the defeat of the Murkowski resolution came quickly. American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman said Farm Bureau is disappointed that the Senate failed to halt the Environment Protection Agency's regulation of greenhouse gasses. Stallman called it one of the most important votes in the Senate this year affecting U.S. agriculture.
As a result of the vote Stallman predicted higher food costs for consumers because of higher input and energy costs to grow our food and result in negative economic impacts on the agriculture sector. Stallman added that this vote also brought into question who should decide our nation's energy policy - elected lawmakers or a regulatory agency.
Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, an original cosponsor of the resolution, said EPA's go it alone policy is a big problem. The economy is sputtering and by not passing this resolution, Congress is ceding policy decisions that could have serious economic ramifications to a bureaucratic agency that is not accountable to the American people.
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Tagged: EPA, farm, Farm Bureau, American Farm Bureau Federation, energy costs
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