With Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., preparing to begin official language markup of the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act," the Senate climate bill, the ranking Republicans on all of the Senate committees that could be involved in the bill wrote Boxer a letter on Monday demanding more analysis of the bill's potential impacts. The letter states "we felt it important to let you know we are deeply troubled by the failure to accommodate a request from Sen. (George) Voinovich and other Republicans for a complete analysis of the bill's projected impacts on the nation."

Boxer released a 34-page EPA report on the bill on Oct. 23 citing that the bill and analysis of its impacts were comparable to the House bill. Republicans on Boxer's committee repeatedly challenged those assertions last week and wanted more studies, citing that under a GOP bill during the Bush presidency Republicans provided more than 10,000 pages of analysis for Democrats.

"As real as the challenge posed by global warming may be, so too are the costs associated with bills that seek to address the matter," the GOP ranking members wrote.

The GOP members added that it would be bad for Boxer to attempt to report the bill, S. 1733, out of committee without more analysis or efforts to address bipartisan concerns over the bill. "As we are sure you will understand, from our viewpoint, such an approach would severely damage, rather than help, the chances of enacting changes to our nation's climate and energy policies."

A press release also included statements from each:

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee:

“Unprecedented shifts in our nation’s approach to energy and the environment are being considered. Global climate change needs to be addressed, but I’m committed to making sure that such efforts also protect America’s economy and competitiveness. We need to have a complete and substantive analysis of any bill that attempts to address this issue.”

Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Georgia, ranking member of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee:

“The Kerry-Boxer bill clearly needs more analysis. The current plan will have a devastating effect on our agriculture economy as our farmers and ranchers would face significantly higher energy and other input costs and could take millions of farmland acres out of production. We must have common sense in this debate and I urge my colleagues to carefully account for and examine the impact of the bill, as we intend to do before the Senate Agriculture Committee.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee:

“We’ve seen what happens this year when Congress rushes ahead on complex legislation without complete data and a thorough vetting. It only makes sense to take a methodical approach to an issue as complicated and far-reaching as comprehensive climate and energy legislation.”

Sen. James Inhofe, R-Oklahoma, ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee:

“I welcome the support from all the ranking members of committees with jurisdiction over climate change. As they made clear, you can’t properly consider a 1,000-page bill to restructure the entire American economy without a full economic analysis of its costs on jobs, consumers, families, and small businesses.”

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, ranking member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee:

“Last month, I released a comprehensive report that reveals how climate change legislation will increase the price of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel for all Americans. The Democrats’ proposed climate change bills fail to reduce the impact of these massive costs and instead strap American families and businesses with a massive $3.6 trillion gas tax bill at a time when they can least afford it. We can improve the environment and economy through American ingenuity and technological advancement, not with taxes and mandates that cause more pain and hardship for Americans.”

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