Amid White House Pressure on Climate, Key Hill Leaders Reevaluating

On the eve of President Obama's State of the Union address to Congress, key supporters of a climate bill on Capitol Hill have scaled back their goals, the New York Times reported today. They were focused on "a more modest package of climate and energy measures that they believe has a better chance of clearing Congress this year."

Meanwhile, in the White House, one official told the Times that the President planned to "restate his commitment to a bill that addresses global warming along with measures to increase energy efficiency and clean-energy technology. The official said the White House would support legislation that provided incentives for oil and gas drilling and for construction of nuclear plants, as well as provisions that helped industries that use a lot of energy and were vulnerable to foreign competitors."

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., was quoted as saying: "Realistically, the cap-and-trade bills in the House and the Senate are going nowhere. They're not business-friendly enough, and they don't lead to meaningful energy independence. What is dead is some massive cap-and-trade system that regulates carbon in a fashion that drives up energy costs." But Gary Guzy, deputy director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, was quoted by the Times as telling a conference last week: "There continues to be very strong support among a range of legislators for comprehensive climate legislation that includes cap and trade."

Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., who is a leading player -- along with Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, ID-Conn., and Graham -- in the climate bill push, was quoted as saying: "I can't tell you whether it will happen this year or not, but it's going to happen. It is inevitable that the United States will deal with climate and energy. The sooner you do it, the cheaper it is."