MJ Bradley & Associates
12/29/2004

Max Baucus (D-MT) will likely be a key member of the Senate's Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee.  In the coming legislative session, the EPW committee will have 10 Republicans and 8 Democrats, but Lincoln Chaffee (R-RI) has already voted against Clear Skies in the past and is likely to do so again.  If all the Democrats, including Baucus, vote against Clear Skies, then the committee will be tied, 9-9, and the bill will not make it out of committee unless Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) uses a procedural maneuver known as Rule 14 to move the bill directly to the Senate floor.  As a result, Republicans may look to Baucus, who voted against a stronger clean air bill proposed by Senator Jeffords in 2002, to break the tie.