The Senate is gearing up for a vote Tuesday or Wednesday on two resolutions to repeal President Obama’s climate change rules for power plants.
Senators agreed to proceed by voice vote Tuesday on a resolution that would nullify the centerpiece of Obama’s climate change agenda, called the Clean Power Plan.
“The Obama administration is trying to impose deeply regressive energy regulations that would eliminate good-paying jobs, punish the poor and make it even harder for Kentuckians to put food on the table,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said on the Senate floor ahead of the voice vote.
Floor speeches on the resolutions began at 3 p.m. Tuesday, after the lawmakers returned from their Tuesday caucus lunches. Ten hours of debate have been scheduled.
After Tuesday’s procedural voice vote, a number of groups opposing the Clean Power Plan issued what are known as “key vote” determinations, recognizing that a vote on the resolution would be counted highly in a senator’s record.
The Chamber of Commerce, the largest business trade group, in its key vote letter to senators asked them to vote in support of the resolutions that give Congress the authority to repeal the regulations under the Congressional Review Act.
“The resolutions … would provide precisely the kind of protection from excessive and overreaching regulations that the Congressional Review Act was designed to achieve,” the letter reads. “These final rules are the very latest in a string of already issued rules targeted at many of the nation’s most affordable and reliable electric generation facilities. The impact these rules will have on power prices means they will inevitably have negative implications extending to nearly every segment of the economy.”
The Chamber of Commerce is part of a massive lawsuit that includes 27 states challenging the Clean Power Plan.
The Senate debate includes two resolutions. First up is a resolution of disapproval against the Clean Power Plan. The second resolution opposes the Environmental Protection Agency’s New Source rule for new power plants, which McConnell says would effectively ban the construction of new coal-fired power plants.
The resolutions are regarded as bipartisan, after being introduced last month with both Democratic and Republican co-sponsors.
The White House said Tuesday that Obama would veto the Clean Power Plan resolution. The House Energy and Commerce Committee is also voting on its versions of the resolutions Tuesday or early Wednesday.
