BOXER EYES HOLD ON JOHNSON CONFIRMATION TO PROTEST MERCURY RULE

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) may place a hold on EPA Administrator-nominee Stephen Johnson's nomination to protest the agency's recently released mercury emissions rule, as one of several options to oppose the controversial regulation. But Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) is suggesting that Johnson's involvement with one rule may not be enough for him to oppose the nomination. Sen. James Jeffords (I-VT), the ranking senator on the Environment & Public Works Committee, has strongly endorsed Johnson's nomination. Boxer told Inside Washington Publishers...