Judge Approved, On to Energy

The Senate today approved the nomination of Thomas Griffith to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals by a 72-24 vote. No action was taken on Bolton, and now we've moved on to the energy bill, with debate having begun already on various amendments. I'm following the action to the extent that I can, and will post updates on amendment tallies as they come in. This is one of those interesting bills that creates all sorts of interesting regional, cross-party, and ideological alliances, so the discussion and such over energy policy is fascinating to watch.

[Update: An amendment from Barbara Boxer (CA) that would have eliminated a provision from the energy bill granting a liability waiver to ethanol producers was tabled by a 59-38 vote. As promised, this was one of those that crossed all kinds of regional and party lines: Northeastern Republicans Gregg, Sununu, Chafee, Collins, Snowe, Specter (along with other GOP senators McCain, Warner, Ensign, and Smith) joined many Democrats in supporting Boxer. Another ethanol amendment, this one from New York's Chuck Schumer, is next up, and the Senate will vote on that first thing tomorrow. Some lively debate on the floor between Schumer and Iowa's Tom Harkin, who is of course a strong ethanol backer. -- 6:41 p.m.]