Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he was willing to move the climate bill ahead of immigration reform legislation, the Wall Street Journal reported. However, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., maintained his vow to absent himself from work on the bill even if the Senate took up immigration after climate. Reid said he was "going to go to" the climate bill if it was "ready to go" ahead of unfinished immigration. He criticized Republicans for failing to work with Democrats on immigration and rejected the possibility of moving immigration through Senate committees while putting the climate bill on the Senate floor.
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said he, Graham, and Sen. Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., were "working very hard and constructively to pull pieces back together." Kerry said of the possibility of leaving Graham out of work on the bill: "I don't want to even consider that at this point in time." Energy Washington Week [subscription required] reported that a source said Kerry had struck an "optimistic tone" on the bill last week, including his expectation that EEI would back it at its scheduled unveiling on Monday. Sources were now looking at potential alternatives to the bill in the attempt to pass energy and/or climate legislation in 2009.
- Related stories also appeared in the Washington Post, Bloomberg, and Politico.
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