Sofia D. Marin
Newswire21.org

Senate Democrats bypassed a Republican boycott Thursday as they pushed a climate bill out of the Environment & Public Works Committee.

Committee chairman Sen. Barbara Boxer had delayed the decisive vote for days because of Republican questions over whether the cost of the legislation had been fully examined.

The California Senator moved quickly to pass the bill anyway, saying the Republican demand for more analysis was "duplicative and waste of taxpayer dollars."

While still in its early stages of legislative approval, the bill would for the first time set mandatory limits on heat-trapping gasses.

The committee's passage of the bill comes as administration officials and Democratic leaders struggle to advance a climate bill before an international climate change conference in Copenhagen next month to create a new international treaty.

"The failure of the Republicans to participate means we cannot offer amendments," said Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa. "This is a very good start, but as the chair has acknowledged it is a start and only a start."

To be sure, Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe, the ranking Republican on the committee, said in a statement that the Democrats' move would signal "the death knell" for the Kerry-Boxer bill.

In the 11-1 vote, Montana Sen. Max Baucus was the committee's only dissenting Democrat, noting that concerns he had with the bill weren't fully addressed.