Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said support from at least one Republican was necessary to move the Kerry-Lieberman climate change bill forward, Environment and Energy Daily reported. Reid said he planned to meet with Democrats in June to consider plans for the legislation, including to revive the possibility of pursuing an energy-only bill.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said he and other Democrats from coal states might not vote for the bill. Brown speculated that Reid was pressing Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., to "deliver something with more consensus than they're getting, including more Republicans."
A former aide to the Clinton administration said "the silence from the White House is deafening" and added that without more support from the Obama administration "there does not seem to be adequate political momentum" to pass Kerry-Lieberman. Lieberman was quoted as saying of Midwest Democrats: "The support from Midwestern utilities would be helpful in reassuring them their consumers won't be experiencing a big price hike. My hope is a smaller group of oil-producing states will come together and after that it's going to be one by one. It's house-to-house combat."
- Related story also appeared in The Hill.
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