Lieberman Tasked With Leading Climate Change Negotiations

Leading Democratic senators tasked Joe Lieberman on Thursday with finding a compromise measure that would satisfy a diverse caucus split between doing energy-only legislation or a more comprehensive approach to climate change, Democratic aides said.

The full Democratic caucus will meet this coming Thursday to decide a way forward. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) met with the chairs of the committees with jurisdiction over climate change legislation on Thursday, where several pressed Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) to drop his effort to pass comprehensive legislation this year, arguing that the 60 votes needed simply aren't there.

Evidence of such soft support came later that afternoon, when only 53 Democrats voted to allow the EPA to regulate carbon as an air pollutant.

It wasn't clear, said people briefed on the meeting, if Kerry was still committed to pursuing full climate change legislation this year. But in the meantime, Lieberman, an independent Democrat from Connecticut, was asked to work with Sens. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.) to find a compromise.

Lieberman is a cosponsor, along with Kerry, of the leading effort in the Senate to address climate change. That bill, which had been known as Kerry-Lieberman-Graham, collapsed when the Graham leg of the stool backed away, questioning the legitimacy of climate change science. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) had up until then been the Democrats' best hope of finding Republican support.

Late last year, Bingaman's energy committee approved a bipartisan energy bill that is seen to have a legitimate chance of passage this year, if Democrats decide to move in that direction. Bringing in Baucus, chairman of the Finance Committee, would allow tax-incentive portions of Kerry-Lieberman to be blended with Bingaman's bill.

Comments

[pfsdetroit]

02:18 PM on 06/14/2010

He will probably triple the carbon tax on corporations, and the funds go to israel.

Joe is consistent, I will give him that.

[seachange525]

12:12 PM on 06/14/2010

Clear evidence the Democrats don't want anything to change. This should guarantee that. I may never vote again. I have finally learned there are no real choices.

[tmf945]

07:52 PM on 06/14/2010

If you don't vote, then you deserve the government you get.

[seachange525]

02:59 AM on 06/15/2010

I used to think that, too. But I have voted for over 35 years now and I haven't received the government I deserve yet. It is obvious to me that the government has been bought. It is now a government of the corporations, for the corporations, and by the corporations. Anyone who thinks their vote counts should consider that the only candidates allowed to run are rich. And the rich can always be bought. THey've dedicated their lives to it.

[ReedYoung]

08:52 PM on 06/13/2010

He turned against health care reform policies he had campaigned on his entire life.

Why would anybody trust him about anything, ever?

[Andrew Belcourt]

07:17 PM on 06/13/2010

You know that they are really serious about getting something done when they call in the Lieberman.......

[Catfish1968]

08:47 PM on 06/13/2010

Indeed

[BlackbirdHighway]

07:41 AM on 06/13/2010

This is why I won't vote Democratic. We wind up with politicians like Lieberman in charge.

[Cleanerman]

10:11 PM on 06/12/2010

Joe gives me the creeps.

[Ryan McGavin]

09:05 PM on 06/12/2010

are you F&%@ing kidding me?

[blueskybigstar]

08:29 PM on 06/12/2010

The oil companies are at the heart of the MIC. That is why they are getting away with everything, just like the CIA.

[blueskybigstar]

08:25 PM on 06/12/2010

CT, change your constitution and remove this man asap.

[tempting]

05:26 PM on 06/12/2010

It takes a catastrophe to bring light to the horrendous atrocities corporations and enabling & complicit governments can cause. I hope America truly wakes up.

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/6/11/rolling_stones_tim_dickinson_on_the

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/6/9/years_of_internal_bp_probes_warned

http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/06/dick-cheney-bp-spill

[nickfromla]

05:17 PM on 06/12/2010

This is BEYOND RIDICULOUS

http://www.frequency.com/video/bp-security/107379

[fumes]

04:17 PM on 06/12/2010

GO JOE!!!

the war against CO2 must be won!

just see how little it takes to keel us:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYLmLW4k4aI&feature=player_embedded

[ReedYoung]

08:55 PM on 06/13/2010

Science & fact
vs.
YouTube & fumes

[Dr Jimmy and Mr Jim]

02:54 PM on 06/12/2010

Whatever this guy touches will turn to crapola. He is not guided by common sense. He is guided by the almighty dollar. He will sell out this country as he has for his entire career.

Obama: Get somebody else to do this job. QUICKLY!

[dragonmaster]

12:31 PM on 06/12/2010

This is like the Fox guarding the Hen house

is Mo Jo Joe really going to stand up to the oil companies? He has protected the obscene profits of the Heath Insurance Companies.

Joe is dead meat here in Connecticut in 2012- his pseudo concerns about climate change- notwithstanding go hand in hand with John McCain in AZ A state that will be uninhabitable in 20 years.

[BlackbirdHighway]

07:42 AM on 06/13/2010

More liike dropping napalm on the henhouse

[Linda from Deerfield]

12:07 PM on 06/12/2010

Lieberman is a chameleon who loves attention. Putting such a creature in charge of our future scares the heck out of me. Thank goodness nobody can keep us from working on the problem ourselves.