Graham Backs Push for Climate Change Legislation

A top Senate Republican on Sunday announced his support for sweeping climate change legislation, disputing the "conventional wisdom" that says Congress simply cannot tackle the issue this year.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., co-authored an op-ed with Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., in The New York Times calling for action on legislation.

Kerry rolled out a Senate climate change bill alongside Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., late last month. A Graham aide said Sunday that the South Carolina Republican was not explicitly endorsing that bill, but stands ready to work with Kerry toward some version of legislation to combat global warming.

Though even Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has expressed doubt that the Senate can address the issue at the same time it's engineering health care reform, Graham and Kerry said a bipartisan bill is possible before a major international climate change summit in Copenhagen in December.

"Our partnership represents a fresh attempt to find consensus that adheres to our core principles and leads to both a climate change solution and energy independence. It begins now, not months from now -- with a road to 60 votes in the Senate," they wrote.

In supporting the push for legislation, Graham is breaking with other top Republicans, many of whom warn that the Kerry-Boxer bill amounts to a "national energy tax." The House passed its version months ago, but the Senate sat on language for the bill until two weeks ago.

The Senate draft sets a ceiling on greenhouse gas emissions beginning in three years, to be tightened annually. It also includes a cap-and-trade system that would require power plants and other industrial facilities to cut climate-changing pollution -- or pay a price.

But Graham and Kerry warned that if Congress does not act, the administration will impose even "tougher" regulations through the Environmental Protection Agency.

"The message to those who have stalled for years is clear: killing a Senate bill is not success; indeed, given the threat of agency regulation, those who have been content to make the legislative process grind to a halt would later come running to Congress in a panic to secure the kinds of incentives and investments we can pass today. Industry needs the certainty that comes with congressional action," they wrote.

Click here to read the op-ed in The New York Times.