Climate consensus collapses in Senate
By Matt Viser and Beth Daley, Boston Globe, April 25, 2010 [here]
WASHINGTON — In one of the proudest moments of his long legislative career, Senator John F. Kerry was poised to unveil a long-awaited climate change bill tomorrow that would put a price on carbon emissions and provide billions of dollars in incentives to industry to drastically cut greenhouse gases. …
Then his effort ran headlong into the Senate’s partisan snarl, and last night the release of the bill was postponed indefinitely.
Senator Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican who had allied himself with Kerry on the issue, abruptly abandoned the effort last night, saying he was irate that the Senate’s Democratic leadership might proceed with a controversial immigration bill first.
“Moving forward on immigration — in this hurried, panicked manner — is nothing more than a cynical political ploy,’’ Graham said. “I know from my own personal experience the tremendous amounts of time, energy, and effort that must be devoted to this issue to make even limited progress.’’
The sudden switch of priorities began late last week when Senate majority leader Harry Reid suggested to other congressional leaders that he might want to tackle immigrant legislation before the Senate deals with climate change. …
The Obama administration also made it clear the importance the president attaches to passage of a climate change bill. Shortly after Graham’s announcement, the White House climate czar Carol Browner weighed in.
“We’re determined to see [climate legislation] happen this year, and we encourage the senators to continue their important work on behalf of the country and not walk away from the progress that’s already been made,’’ she said in a statement.
Without Graham’s support, the bill, which would have been a challenge to pass in any case, will face a much steeper uphill battle. … [more]