If you had any slim hope left for “bipartisanship” on environmental and energy legislation in Washington after the 2010 midterm election, you can forget about it.

The Hill reports “Republicans aren’t interested in compromising with President Obama on major issues if they retake the House or Senate, a senior GOP lawmaker said.”

“Look, the time to go along and get along is over,” said Rep. Mike Pence (Ind.), the chairman of the House Republican Conference. “House Republicans know that. We’ve taken firm and principled stands against their big government plans throughout this Congress, and we’ve got, if the American people will send them, we’ve got a cavalry of men and women headed to Washington, D.C. that are going to stand with us.”

Despite long delays to negotiate with Republicans on cap and trade and the energy bill that led to nothing being passed, Democrats keep holding out the olive branch of “bipartisanship”.

“I think we’re open to speaking to the Republicans, if they really mean it, if they’re talking about deficit reduction, if they’re willing to move,” Biden said on Bloomberg’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt”. “I think there’s a possibly.”

But with every Republican Senate candidate a global warming denier, this year’s crop of freshmen are going to be even less likely to want to work with Democrats on anything. That’s a recipe for two more years of gridlock.

“Look, there will be no compromise on stopping runaway spending, deficits and debt. There will be no compromise on repealing Obamacare lock stock and barrell. There will be no compromise on stopping Democrats from growing government and raising taxes,” Pence told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt Thursday evening. “And if I haven’t been clear enough yet, let me say again: No compromise.”

(Image by David Iliff from Wikimedia Commons)