The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee released its version of a climate change bill despite the fact that Republican senators on the committee were boycotting the mark up hearings. The Senate apparently has an informal rule that two senators of the opposing party need to be present to make a quorum. Senator Barbara Boxer decided to move forward based on the apparent actual rules that allows the committee to vote out a bill if there is a quorum of any party members. The Democrats on the Committee voted unanimously to move the bill out of the Committee.
The bill will know be considered by other committees in the Senate. If a bill is presented to the full Senate, it will probably be in 2010.
