WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Democrats defeated a bill on Thursday that would have blocked federal environmental regulators from slashing power plant air pollution that blows downwind to other states and causes lung and heart problems.
The bill, sponsored by Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican and Tea Party favorite, needed only a simple majority of 50 to pass. The measure got only 41, while 56 voted against it. Only one Democrat, Joe Manchin from coal-rich West Virginia, voted for it.
