The House voted Thursday to establish Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s much-scrutinized new panel to investigate the dangers of global warming.

Facing strong Republican opposition and skepticism from some Democratic chairmen, Pelosi moved to create the panel through a parliamentary maneuver by including the provision in a rule governing debate of a resolution funding House committees (H Res 202).

The resolution, adopted 269-150, will provide $276.5 million for the 110th Congress for 20 House panels, marking a 7.4 percent overall increase from the last Congress. Forty-four Republicans broke rank and voted in favor of the resolution, while Jim Matheson of Utah was the only Democrat to vote against it.

“Simply put, people the world over can breathe easier, because this resolution will institutionalize the commitment of the House of Representatives to confronting global warming,” said Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, D-N.Y., chairwoman of the Rules Committee.

Rules Committee ranking Republican David Dreier of California called the process “so outrageous” because, he said, the panel’s validity had not been adequately debated, as he and the rest of the Republicans had been shut out of the discussions.

The Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, which will probably be chaired by Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., a vocal supporter of mandatory emissions controls, will consist of nine Democrats and six Republicans. The two-year, $3.7 million panel will not have legislative power, but will investigate the problems of global warming and make recommendations to authorizing committees with jurisdiction over relevant issues.

Republicans criticized the decision to move forward with the panel, saying there was no reason to spend millions of dollars on a powerless committee.

Republicans said the money should instead be redirected to the House ethics committee, otherwise, they argued, Democrats would be backtracking on a campaign pledge to crack down on congressional scandals.

The ethics panel will receive $5 million for this Congress under the resolution, a small increase over the appropriation in the previous Congress but $1 million less than Chairwoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Ohio, and ranking Republican Doc Hastings of Washington, requested.

“Today we’ll see where Democrats’ true priorities lie,” said Rep. Pete Sessions, a Republican from Texas.

A furious Jones accused Republicans of political gamesmanship, saying her panel would be able to perform its tasks under the funding levels outlined in the resolution.

“You’re not going to use my committee on the floor,” Jones said right before she stormed out of the chamber.

Democrats defended the funding levels for the ethics committee by saying tough choices had to be made in light of the federal deficit.

“The financial pressures on our government are immense,” Slaughter said, adding that the 2.6 percent across-the-board increase represented one of the lowest funding bumps in the past 12 years.

The creation of the global warming panel was seen as another sign that the new Speaker, a California Democrat, was moving to usurp power from powerful committee chairmen, like Michigan Democrat John D. Dingell, who chairs the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Dingell, whose district encompasses part of the auto industry, is taking a cautious approach to developing legislation to impose first-time national restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions. Initially, the influential veteran opposed the new panel, but he later reversed his position after Pelosi assured him it would not trample on his panel’s jurisdiction. The select committee will expire Oct. 30, 2008.

“In the House of Representatives, debate on global warming has been stifled for 12 years,” Pelosi said in a statement. “We can’t wait any longer.”

First posted March 8, 2007 3:47 p.m.