Clinton skips Senate hearing she called for

October 31, 2007

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) skipped an Environment and Public Works Committee hearing Wednesday that she called for earlier this year.

Clinton’s absence drew a strong rebuke from Sen. James Inhofe (Okla.), ranking Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee.

Clinton, a member of the committee, praised Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) a few weeks ago for scheduling the hearing on the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada, a project that many Nevada voters oppose fiercely.

“I applaud Chairman Boxer for scheduling this important hearing, a step that I called for earlier this year,” she said. “I am strongly opposed to Yucca Mountain because there are too many unanswered questions about both the geology of the site and the integrity of the science done to support the decision to store waste there.

“That’s why this hearing is so important. We need answers … and I will be asking for them on the 31st,” Clinton added. But if Clinton was seeking answers from administration officials, she was not doing it from the committee dais. She was nowhere to be seen at Wednesday’s hearing.

Inhofe did not mince words about Clinton’s absence: “When Sen. Clinton had the opportunity to ask ‘hard questions’ of administration officials about Yucca Mountain, she was missing in action. In fact, Sen. Clinton failed to ask any questions because she was absent from the last two [Environment and Public Works] hearings on Yucca Mountain.

Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), Clinton’s chief rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, however, made sure to weigh in on the hearing. He penned a letter to Boxer dated Oct. 30 stating his opposition to the Yucca project.

Obama is not a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee.

“I believe that it is no longer a sustainable federal policy for Yucca Mountain to be considered as a permanent repository,” Obama wrote.

Nevada voters are of particular interest to the Democratic hopefuls because the state is scheduled to hold a presidential caucus on Jan. 19.

Clinton’s Senate spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

Source: The Hill

Posted by Hillary · Filed Under 2008, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton Flipflops, News

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Clinton skips Senate hearing she called for

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