The Senate is delaying work on a global warming bill for the second time this summer. The authors of a bill aimed at addressing climate change announced Monday they would not introduce their legislation until the end of the month, instead of the Sept. 8 date they scheduled before the August recess.
Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass. and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said their bill is “moving along well” but they needed “additional time to work on the final details” in part because of the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Kerry’s recent hip surgery. The two said they also needed additional time to “reach out to colleagues and important stakeholders.”
Boxer and Kennedy had originally planned to introduce the bill before the August recess.
Reid said earlier this summer he plans to take up a bill this year that combines separate energy and climate change proposals, but the climate change plan is unpopular in the Senate, particularly among party moderates who have already pledged to oppose any kind of cap and trade system aimed at reducing carbon emissions.
Reid nonetheless said he is determined to take up the climate proposal. He put out a statement late Monday saying that he “fully expects the Senate to have ample time to consider this comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation before the end of the year.”
A Senate committee has already cleared an energy bill that aims to increase domestic production of gas an oil by allowing more offshore drilling. The House passed an energy and global warming bill, which includes a cap and trade system.
Taking up a climate bill could prove nearly impossible for Reid, who will have his hands full trying to pass an unpopular health care reform bill that Obama has declared his top administrative priority.
