Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., has planned to start a markup Tuesday on Kerry-Boxer, but Republicans have vowed not to show up.

All seven panel Republicans have agreed to boycott the markup on cap-and-trade legislation from Boxer and Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., and will hold their own meeting on the subject instead. Given the five-seat edge Democrats have on Boxer's panel, Republicans would not be able to defeat the bill if it came up for a final vote. Their only leverage is to prevent a quorum.

Republicans want more information, including a full cost analysis from EPA and input from the Congressional Budget Office. They say they also want more time to look at the bill themselves.

Boxer has defended the process, stating that she exceeded committee rules requiring a chairman's mark to be unveiled at least three days before a markup by releasing a revised version of the bill on Oct. 23. She also has cited three hearings last week on that bill and previous hearings by the panel on the subject.

Republicans counter that Democrats three times delayed a markup on the Republican "Clear Skies" bill before the measure was defeated on a 9-9 vote in March 2005 because they also wanted more analysis.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson acknowledged to the panel at a hearing last week that the agency did not run a full suite of economic models on the Kerry-Boxer bill and instead concluded that it was similar enough to a House-passed bill to determine that its costs would also average about $100 per household annually.

Boxer is only one of five committee heads with jurisdiction on a cap-and-trade bill to signal plans to hold a markup this year. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has already passed an energy bill Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has said he would combine with a cap-and-trade plan.

In other news this week, the Interior Department is hosting a conference today on clean energy at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Secretary Ken Salazar will speak, and several panels will be held to discuss renewable energy and climate change. On Thursday, a subcommittee of the House Natural Resources Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on energy transmission models.

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