Three Senate Republicans who boycotted Thursday's scheduled vote on President Obama's nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had fundraisers scheduled on the same day, at least two of which were hosted by energy industry lobbyists, according to invitations obtained by the Sunlight Foundation's Political Party Time website.

The Washington Post reported this morning that House Republicans will push to roll back any number of government regulations in the fall and that “the next month or so will focus on [Environmental Protection Agency] regulations.”

Here are some related energy industry numbers from the Center for Responsive Politics on campaign fundraising so far this cycle:

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) has an op-ed in the Washington Post today attacking President Barack Obama's policy agenda.

If read with the Center for Responsive Politics website opened right next to you, the op-ed could also look like a defense of some of Cantor's biggest campaign contributors.

Some excerpts (in bold):

Tomorrow, July 26th, the House Oversight Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs, Stimulus Oversight and Government Spending will hold a hearing entitled, “Lights Out: How EPA Regulations Threaten Affordable Power and Job Creation.”

A day after a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on legislation that would gut some important provisions of the Clean Air Act, POLITICO reports this morning that energy lobbyists are “scrambling to win over the newbie lawmakers with finely tuned talking points, briefing books — and of course, campaign contributions for Republicans, some of whom already are facing tough races just two years out.”

Yesterday, the Washington Post cleared up a little bit of the confusion of who served on Vice President Cheney's Energy Task Force back in the beginning of the administration. He wouldn't tell and the Supreme Court agreed that he could keep the names a secret.

Back in 2003, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission released some 1.5 million email messages that it collected as part of its investigation of Enron's price-gouging of California consumers. The press pounced on some of the choicer bits, but this is truly the gift that keeps giving.

The New York Times' Carl Hulse has a good analysis of DeLay's political capital under this headline:

Well, it looks like the "Gang of 500," who fancies itself so ahead of the curve, is finally catching on to what we've known for the past year. Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is in serious trouble.

ABC News' The Note has this today:

Westar Energy, Inc., a Kansas-based utility company, and three of its employees have agreed to pay the Federal Election Commission more than $40,000 in fines to settle accusations that they used improper fundraising techniques to contribute to Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay's political action committee ARMPAC.