Cloudy Skies in the Senate

The "Clear Skies" bill has failed to clear the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. The NYT article describes how George Voinivich (R-Ohio) and Tom Carper (D-Delaware) tried and failed to craft a compromise on the bill:

Three previous committee votes were postponed when a tie seemed certain and committee members expressed a willingness to negotiate a compromise. Leading the efforts were two friends from their days as governors, Senator George V. Voinovich, an Ohio Republican who co-sponsored the bill with Mr. Inhofe, and Senator Thomas R. Carper, Democrat of Delaware. They met nine times since early February to narrow differences.

The talks ended after Mr. Voinovich said Republican compromises received no Democratic response, and Mr. Carper said his requests for more timely data from the Environmental Protection Agency were ignored.