Even with 55 seats in the Senate, Bush’s legislative agenda isn’t a lock

This was good news for the environment, but from a political angle, it’s also a sign of Bush’s limits on the Hill.

A Senate committee handed President Bush a setback Wednesday by failing to pass his key environmental initiative — a rewriting of the Clean Air Act that would change air pollution rules for power plants.

Environmentalists have attacked the Bush administration’s Clear Skies Act, saying it would grant some of the nation’s biggest producers of acid rain, mercury and smog too much time to meet new emissions standards while failing to address global warming. Bush has said his approach would reduce air pollution without unduly curbing economic expansion.

The White House lobbied for months to persuade a majority on the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee to support its plan. And committee Chairman James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.) postponed votes on the initiative three times in the last month as negotiations continued.

But on Wednesday, a panel vote on the Clear Skies measure deadlocked, 9-9.

The Bush White House hasn’t lost many of these legislative skirmishes, so it’s noteworthy when the opposition wins one, even if it’s by forcing a tie. In the first term, particularly after 2002, Congress essentially asked “how high?” every time they heard voices from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue telling them to jump. Lame duck-itis strikes again.

It also goes to show that sometimes it only takes one lawmaker to make the difference. On the Senate committee, the Republicans enjoy a 10-8 majority. But yesterday, Rhode Island’s Linc Chafee joined with unanimous Dems to create the 9-9 stalemate.

…Chafee said his opposition to the Clear Skies measure was “an easy ‘no’ vote” for him because, in his view, the existing Clean Air Act provides greater protection against air pollution than the president’s plan. He also said the Bush administration proposal failed to address global warming because it would not set a cap on carbon dioxide emissions produced by power plants.

Chafee may be sticking with this party, but he successfully stuck it to Bush yesterday. Kudos.