Carper Statement on Postponing Clean Air Markup Goal Should Be to Develop Consensus Bill That Can Pass Senate

WASHINGTON (Feb. 16, 2005) – Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., issued the following statement on today’s postponement of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee’s markup on clean air legislation. Carper is the senior Democrat on the Clean Air, Climate Change and Nuclear Safety Subcommittee. “I applaud the decision by Senator Inhofe to delay today’s scheduled markup on clean air legislation. I hope this means we will now sit down and hammer out a bipartisan compromise on this contentious issue. As we move forward, our goal should be to craft legislation that appeals to a broad majority of the committee and the Senate. The goal should not be to pick off one or two more senators on the committee so that ‘Clear Skies’ can move on a simple majority vote because the final objective is to do more than just pass a bill through committee. It still takes 60 votes to get legislation through the Senate. To be successful on clean air legislation this year, the committee should work together to produce a compromise that most — if not all — Democrats can support and then fight to keep that compromise intact as we move the bill to the floor and into conference with the House. We have the technological know-how to develop a strong, four-pollutant bill that significantly cuts emissions of mercury, nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide, while also taking the first step toward addressing global warming and controlling carbon dioxide emissions. My hope is that we all will work together in the coming weeks to develop such legislation.”