Because of their pretentiousness, the scribes will receive "severe condemnation," Jesus warns in this Sunday's gospel. Republican senators who oppose climate-change legislation working its way through the U.S. Congress condemned it in the strongest way possible Tuesday by refusing to show up for a committee hearing on the bill.

Only one of the seven Republicans on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee--Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio--showed up for the panel's opening session. He then left the meeting after delivering an opening statement.

Committee rules require at least two minority party members to be present to reach a working quorum. An exception, however, could allow the committee to proceed without any Republicans, according to committee staff members.

Matt Dempsey, a spokesman for the committee's Republicans, warned that applying the exception would be a "nuclear option" on the part of Democrats that would worsen the panel's already strained political climate.

In his remarks Voinovich asked the committee to hold off its debate until getting a full Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) analysis of a bill that he said would affect every American. Committee chairwoman Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) responded that the panel had held dozens of hearings on the issue and that she had taken the unprecedented step of scheduling a session with EPA experts later Tuesday to answer any questions by committee members.

When the hearing proceeded, Voinovich exited the room, leaving only Democratic members at the table. Boxer said the panel would continue to meet, including the session with the EPA representatives later in the day.

"We're going to just be here every day until they join us," Boxer said. She criticized the Republican boycott, saying, "The reason they give to not work on it just doesn't hold up to the light of day in fairness and objectivity."

 

Source: An article by Lesa Jansen, Evan Glass, and Tom Cohen for CNN