Boxing Match in the Senate? Boxer-Kerry Climate Bill Being Introduced Today

With Democratic Senators Boxer and Kerry preparing to launch their Climate Bill salvo into the Senate, opponents are gearing up for a fight.

According to USA Today, "Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., one of the Senate's most vocal opponents of climate-change action, predicted the bill won't even be debated on the Senate floor before the end of the year, let alone come up for a vote."

The New York Times reports that "...the 684-page Senate draft bill (pdf) diverges from the House measure in its push for a 2020 emissions target of 20 percent, compared with the House's bill's 17 percent limit.

Both the House-passed bill, H.R. 2454 (pdf), and the preliminary Boxer-Kerry proposal contain the same longer-term emissions limits of 42 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 and an 83 percent cut for 2050."

I haven't had a chance to read the Senate draft bill, but will try to have a look at it in the next day or so.

But it sounds like Senators on both sides may want to get out their boxing gloves.