Republicans Put the Kibosh on Climate Change Bill

Well, it wasn't unexpected, but it's worth noting anyway. After one brief week of Senate debate over the Lieberman-Warner climate change bill, it's officially dead. Senators can now put their good intentions back on the shelf until next year, when the issue of regulating greenhouse gas emissions is expected to be raised again under a friendlier administration (both presumptive presidential nominees say they support such regulations). In this go round, Democrats couldn't gather the 60 votes needed to end a Republican filibuster and bring the bill up for a vote. In fact, the final vote was 48-36, short of a majority, but Democrats had letters from six absent senators (including Barack Obama, John McCain, and Ted Kennedy) saying that they would have voted for the policy had they been present.