Senate climate bill coming in two weeks, Reid says
by Agence France-Presse.
WASHINGTON—Senate Majority Harry Reid (D-Nev.)
said Tuesday that he and other senior lawmakers had drawn up a “rough
draft” of climate and energy legislation to be introduced in two
weeks.
“I now have
a rough draft of what we’re going to do,” he told reporters. “I hope
to be able to have a bill introduced [the] week after next.”
President Obama has pushed Congress to pass a comprehensive bill to battle climate change
and foster alternative and renewable energy sources this year, despite partisan
tensions ahead of November midterm elections.
But his
Republican foes offered no sign they would water down their opposition to an
approach they have branded an “energy tax” on struggling consumers
mired in a sour economy.
Reid said he had
met with top Senate committee leaders and would consult with Energy Secretary
Steven Chu, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and the top White House official on
fighting climate change, Carol Browner.
Reid said he was
working with Senate Finance Committee Democrats to craft legislation that would
curb pollution from the utility sector in a way that helps consumers, but
declined to say whether it would cap the greenhouse-gas emissions that cause
global warming.
The Senate
leader also said the bill would include provisions to deal with cleanup and
recovery from the catastrophic Gulf of Mexico oil spill, promote clean energy
and job creation, and reduce consumption, “which is vital to anything we
do.”
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