Senate GOP to Ramp Up Cap-and-Trade Pushback - Roll Call

Senate Republicans on Monday are set to intensify their campaign against President Barack Obama’s proposal to cap carbon emissions with a hearing promoting the use of nuclear power.

Three Republicans — Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander (Tenn.) and Sens. John McCain (Ariz.) and Jim Bunning (Ky.) — are slated to participate in the hearing, which was scheduled to coincide with renewed efforts by House Democrats to pass a cap-and-trade energy bill before the July Fourth recess.

Even as Democrats continue work on energy legislation in the Senate, Republicans are hoping to poison the well for cap-and-trade policies long before a final bill has a chance to advance to the floor. Senate Republicans also hope their plan to limit greenhouse gasses by expanding the use of nuclear power will influence the energy debate in the House, possibly derailing the move by Democrats there to pass the cap-and-trade bill.

“Climate change might be the inconvenient problem, but nuclear power is the inconvenient answer,” Alexander said Friday during a telephone interview. “We want a rebirth of industrial America. We want to create jobs.”