Kerry vows to push ahead with effort for broader energy bill

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) vowed to push forward with his effort to pass a comprehensive energy bill, despite Democrats’ current focus on a scaled-back version. 

Kerry said that he and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) had been given the green light by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to continue to push for 60 votes on a comprehensive bill. 

“We’ve always know from day one that to pass comprehensive energy reform, you’ve got to have 60 votes,” Kerry said alongside Reid and White House energy czar Carol Browner at the announcement of a smaller energy bill. 

Reid laid out the bill’s four components, which he said he expected to garner Republican support and to move before senators break for the August recess. Democrats made the official determination during a caucus meeting Thursday afternoon. 

Kerry said that President Obama called him before that caucus meeting to pledge more personal involvement in the effort to get 60 votes, which means holding together the Senate’s 59 Democrats while picking up at least one Republican vote in order to avoid a filibuster.

“Unfortunately this time, we don’t have a single Republican working with us to achieve this goal,” Reid said of the effort for comprehensive reform. 

Kerry said that he was grateful to Reid for giving him and Lieberman the opportunity to find 60 votes for a comprehensive bill, and likened it to the early efforts for healthcare reform, efforts which came to fruition this year after decades of fighting. 

“This is not going to take that long,” Kerry said. “It is not going to take close to that long.”