Democrats block vote on EPA nominee

Oct. 1, 2003, 8:06PM

Democrats block vote on EPA nominee
By ERIC PIANIN
Washington Post

WASHINGTON -- Sen. James Jeffords, Ind-Vt., and his Democratic allies blocked a committee vote Wednesday on President Bush's nomination of Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency in a bit of partisan theater designed to dramatize their pique with the administration's environmental policies.

Insisting it was "nothing personal" against Leavitt, Jeffords and the Democrats boycotted a meeting of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, denying Chairman James Inhofe, R-Okla., the quorum he needed to send the nomination to the Senate floor for consideration. Jeffords showed up just long enough to complain that he and his colleagues needed more information from Leavitt and the administration about Bush policies before they could vote, but none of the eight Democrats attended the session.

"The American public needs answers," Jeffords said before departing. "The Bush administration is weakening the Clean Air Act, it is weakening the Clean Water Act, and it is not cleaning up Superfund sites. We have a right to know why. These are life-and-death issues.

"This is the only time we have the leverage, when we have something like this, and we intend to use it," he said.
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http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/2131992