President Clinton Expects Senate Work on Climate Bill to Resume

Former President Bill Clinton expressed confidence that the Senate will return to work on climate change legislation despite the current dispute over immigration, Politico reported. Clinton said Congress will "probably get it back on track," although he acknowledged the possibility that an energy-only bill will emerge in place of a climate bill. Clinton cited the support for pricing GHG emissions from "big manufacturers" and industrial consumers who "want a deal very badly."

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., reiterated his belief that the Senate can move on climate as he criticized Republicans for their "very unreasonable and illogical" position that Congress cannot pass an immigration bill as well in 2010. Democrats did not grant the request by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., for Reid to put off consideration of immigration, and the party was said to be now seeking a new Republican sponsor for the bill.

Graham asserted that Democrats showed they were "not serious" about climate by turning their attention to immigration instead. Graham was quoted as saying: "I'm convinced that what was once a sincere effort to solve the problem of cap and trade, to replace it with a better product, has now become 2010 politics. Maybe I'm misreading the tea leaves? But that's what I believe."

- Related stories also appeared in Climate Wire via the New York Times, Greenwire via the New York Times, and the New Republic.