Sen. Jim Inhofe said he plans to use a legislative maneuver that would allow rejection of environmental regulations by majority vote to take whacks at President Obama’s agenda, signaling a contentious two years between the White House and Congress with the Oklahoma Republican helming the Environment and Public Works Committee.
Inhofe said he intends to use the Congressional Review Act to strike down a proposed rule limiting carbon emissions from power plants along with other regulations once they are finalized. Any attempt to do so, however, almost certainly would be vetoed by Obama, who has said he plans to protect his environmental and climate policies.
“It’s not just all that partisan,” Inhofe told reporters Wednesday. “Democrats and Republicans alike will go home and people will yell and scream about a regulation and you say, ‘Well, we can’t do anything about that. That was done then by the administration.’ But they can do something about it now. They can pass legislation or they can use the [Congressional Review Act], and we plan to use the [Congressional Review Act].”
The power plant rule aims to slash carbon emissions from electricity 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. It’s the centerpiece of Obama’s climate agenda and has support from most Democrats.
Getting the 67 votes to override a veto would be challenging, and Inhofe wouldn’t go as far as to say he thought he could reach that threshold.
“I don’t know, I wouldn’t say that. I would say I’d make an effort to get as many Democrats to join us as possible,” Inhofe said.
Inhofe noted he has some experience with the Congressional Review Act. He initiated a vote on limits for power plant emissions on mercury and other air toxins in June 2012, which failed 46-53.
While Inhofe said the Senate now has a “totally different population” with Republicans in the majority, the 2012 vote wasn’t along party lines. Five Republicans voted with Democrats to uphold the regulation, including current Sens. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Susan Collins of Maine and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire.
The committee also will have its sights on an update to the Clean Water Act that the EPA says clarifies the law but that rural Americans worry will expand regulations of agriculture. New limits on the amount of ozone allowed in the atmosphere will be another focus. Industry groups say the proposed level would make it harder to expand permitting for factories, refineries and other facilities, but public health groups say it is necessary to prevent heart and respiratory ailments.
“We do have a lot of things that are going on right now that have to be addressed with the regulations,” Inhofe said.
Inhofe mentioned that the committee’s Republicans are working on a package of bills that would address some regulations. And if neither that nor using the Congressional Review Act work, Republicans will look to handcuff regulations through reducing spending or including policy “riders” on appropriations bills.
That, however, runs into its own set of complications. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said he won’t oversee a government shutdown over spending bills — but that would effectively take spending bills off the table as an option for gutting the EPA rule he and other Republicans and coal-state Democrats oppose.
Inhofe didn’t see it that way, saying he thought some Democrats might break ranks with Obama on certain policies.
“Of all his party in the House and the Senate and of him, he’s the only one who is never going to be up for re-election. The rest of them are,” Inhofe said.
