We owe the founding fathers a great debt for making overreaching power grabs more difficult than they are in other places. Today The Hill brings more proof of their wisdom

House committee chairmen from Minnesota and Missouri are floating legislation to block planned EPA greenhouse gas rules.

The effort underscores unease among senior Democrats from conservative-leaning states about Obama administration emissions policy.

Reps. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) and Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) - who head the Agriculture and Armed Services committees, respectively - introduced a plan Tuesday that would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from placing limits on heat-trapping emissions from power plants, factories and other sources.

"I have no confidence that the EPA can regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act without doing serious damage to our economy," Peterson said in a prepared statement. "Americans know we're way too dependent on foreign oil and fossil fuels in this country - and I've worked hard to develop practical solutions to that problem - but Congress should be making these types of decisions, not unelected bureaucrats at the EPA."

Peterson has been a thorn in the side of Democratic leaders on climate change. He won major concessions for agriculture in the big climate change and energy bill the House approved in June, but recently said he'd vote against the bill if it comes back before the House.

There seems to be no end to the extent to which federal bureaucrats think they can simply ignore that there's a legislative branch which has the responsibility to set regulatory limits.

Clarice Feldman