Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., predicted that the health care debate will increase the obstacles for passage of a climate change bill, Environment and Energy Daily reported. Graham said the struggle over health care will "make it very difficult to do anything complicated and controversial" in Congress. Graham predicted that "most of our colleagues around here" will be averse to taking on the risk involved in climate negotiations, but Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., claimed that Congress will now be free to focus on the climate bill.
Kerry was quoted as saying: "We can put the pieces of real bipartisanship back together" and that the Obama administration also will devote its "energy and attention" to climate. Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and John McCain, R-Ariz., noted Graham's warning that Democrats will find it difficult to win Republican support for the climate bill. Bloomberg reported that Graham said he was "still committed to trying to roll out a vision of how you price carbon and make it business friendly."
Kerry was quoted as saying: "Unlike health care, we start out with a bipartisan issue where a progressive senator from Massachusetts and a conservative from South Carolina have already struck an alliance. An unlikely odd couple of stakeholders want to see our effort go forward, and recognize that it's now or never."
- Related stories also appeared in AFP and Reuters.
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