Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., plans to introduce an energy bill next week that focuses on offshore oil drilling, but broad climate change legislation will not be considered in the Senate until at least September, Reuters reports.
The bill to be introduced by Reid will not include a renewable electricity standard (RES) or a cap on carbon emissions, because of Republican opposition.
‘As Senator Reid said, this legislation that he has proposed does not replace climate legislation,’ Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said in a statement after a meeting of the Democratic caucus. ‘It does not replace comprehensive energy legislation.’
‘Senator [Joseph] Lieberman and I will continue to work with our colleagues and the stakeholders in order to carve a path to 60 votes for comprehensive legislation that appropriately targets, in an appropriate way, carbon, so that we can send signals to the marketplace and change the direction and create jobs for America and improve our security,’ Kerry continued. ‘The work we've done over the last year and a half will remain a foundation for all of this effort.’
The scaled-down climate bill may still lack sufficient vote support needed in order to be passed before Congress' August recess, according to the New York Times.
SOURCES: Reuters, Office of Sen. John Kerry, New York Times
