Republican efforts to block climate change controls got a major boost today when three Democratic senators -- Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas -- agreed to cosponsor a GOP bill that would overturn proposed EPA regulations.

Lincoln, who chairs the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, said she wants Congress to write climate change legislation rather than have the Obama administration cut global warming pollution under the Clean Air Act. "I am very concerned about the burden that EPA regulation of carbon emissions could put on our economy and have questions about the actual benefit EPA regulations would have on the environment," said Lincoln, who faces a tough campaign for re-election this fall.

The three Democrats are backing a resolution by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, to prevent the EPA from declaring that greenhouse gas emissions endanger human health and the environment. That scientific finding would pave the way for regulators to control global warming pollution from power plants, manufacturers and other big companies.

Murkowski, the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, introduced her resolution today under a law that allows Congress to veto administrative regulations and blocks the Senate from filibustering the action. As a result, the bill could be approved by 51 votes in the Senate. The resolution must be approved by the House and signed into law by President Obama before EPA would be forced to stop action.

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