Republicans boycott Obama's EPA nominee

Republican senators boycotted President Obama's nomination of Gina McCarthy to lead the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday.

The party's committee members wrote a letter to the committee chairwoman Barbara Boxer claiming the EPA refused requests for further information on McCarthy.

"As you know, all Republicans on our EPW committee have asked EPA to honor five very reasonable and basic requests in conjunction with the nomination of Gina McCarthy which focus on openness and transparency," they wrote. "While you have allowed EPA adequate time to fully respond before and mark-up on the nomination, EPA has stonewalled on four of five categories. Because of this, no Republican member of the committee will attend [Thursday's] mark-up if it is held."

The absence of the Republican committee members left the panel without a quorum, forcing them to reschedule the mark-up.

Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer believes that the Republicans are making false accusations because they dislike the Obama administration.

"At this stage, their opposition to even to allowing us to vote shows how outside the mainstream they are, it shows how the obstructionist they are, it shows how their pledge to do better with women voters is false," she said. "How could you have a more qualified woman than Gina McCarthy? This is outrageous. Get out of the fringe lane."

Boxer plans on negotiating an agreement with Republicans to move forward with McCarthy.