Free Republic

WASHINGTON - President Bush's top environmental priority — giving power plants, factories and refineries more time to reduce their air pollution — suffered a major setback Wednesday as a Republican-controlled committee rejected it in the Senate. The Environment and Public Works Committee deadlocked on a 9-9 vote on Bush's "clear skies" bill, a name that Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., described as "akin to calling Frankenstein Tom Cruise." The tie vote came after weeks of fruitless negotiation to get a bare majority required to recommend the bill to the full Senate. The committee vote doesn't preclude GOP leaders from scheduling the...