Despite a Republican boycott of the proceedings, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee chaired by Senator Barbara Boxer approved climate change legislation today. If you think the healthcare debate was contentious, you ain't seen nothing yet. This battle promises to be far uglier. Brace yourselves for stormy weather.

Eleven of the 12 Democrats on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted to approve the measure. Only Senator Max Baucus from coal-rich Montana voted against the bill. None of the seven Republicans who sit on the committee were present for the vote because of an effort to derail the legislation tactically. The legislation had been tied up in the committee by the Republicans, led by Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, who said the bill’s impact on the economy hadn’t been adequately studied. They boycotted most of the panel’s meetings this week to try to prevent a vote until the Environmental Protection Agency reviews the bill further. Such stalling tactics speak to the character of the GOP. As Senator Boxer noted, "The Senate can’t be paralyzed."

From Politico:

With Republican boycotting the proceedings, Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) relied on a little used interpretation of committee rules to move the legislation. Traditionally, two minority members are required to conduct committee business.

Boxer said that she passed the bill "in full accordance with long-standing committee and Senate rules."

"This is not a procedure we wanted; it's a procedure that's available to us," said Boxer. "The majority has to be able to do its work...otherwise the whole Senate could come to a screeching halt."

Republicans called Boxer's move the "nuclear option," warning that it violated decades of committee precedent.

"I am here to appeal to you and the members of the committee," Sen. Jim Inhofe, the top Republican on the committee, said in a brief statement. "In the history of this committee, we have not been able to find a time when the bill has been marked up without minority."

A Republican committee member visited the committee daily this week to deliver a short statement laying out GOP objections to the process.

Top Republican committee leaders and several moderate members -- including climate bill leader South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham -- have sent letters this week in support of the boycott.

Eleven Democrats voted for the bill, enough to give the legislation a majority of the 19 members on the committee.

Montana Sen. Max Baucus was the only Democratic to vote against the bill, citing concerns about the agriculture provisions included in the legislation.

But Baucus vowed to use his post as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee to pass a climate bill.

The boycotting of proceedings in order to bring the Senate and the business of the people "to a screeching halt" is the last option available to the GOP. They will destroy the country if need be in order to get their way which is to do nothing at all. The only thing James Inhofe cares about is the energy industry's profits. This is a man who believes that global climate change is "greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people." The GOP will stop at nothing to derail any climate legislation going forward and we should be prepared for such.

The problem we face is that given Senate rules, a few Republican votes will be required to pass climate legislation because at least a few Democrats have reservations. Both Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota have said they are opposed to cap-and-trade. And both Senator Max Baucus and Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia are concerned that cap-and-trade legislation will hurt their coal-dependent states and won’t support the measure in its current form.