Reid claims ‘resolve’ among Dems on energy but acknowledges differing views

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) called his Thursday meeting with committee chairmen and other senior Democrats on energy legislation a “productive step” toward action on a broad energy package this year.

But lawmakers said after the meeting no clear decisions were made on the scope of Senate plans, and Reid — who hopes to bring legislation to the floor this summer — acknowledged the diversity of views.

“There are a variety of opinions within our caucus about how to develop a bipartisan bill that can gain the necessary support, but there is also resolve to move forward with this effort. I am committed to working with Democrats and Republicans to pass clean energy legislation this year,” Reid said in a prepared statement Thursday.

He also acknowledged the need for GOP backing even while bashing Republicans in the same breath.

“Today’s meeting with key committee chairs and clean energy leaders was another productive step, and we all share the hope that Republicans will join our effort to bring this important bill to the Senate floor. But Republicans need to stop focusing their efforts on protecting big corporations who want to continue the same polluting energy policy that we know is inadequate,” he said.

Reid met in his Capitol office with 10 other senators, including Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.).

A key question is whether Kerry and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) — who also attended — can win traction for their sweeping climate change bill that includes a modified version of cap-and-trade and new support for building nuclear power plants and alternative energy.

Democratic leaders could also try to advance a narrower energy package that omits carbon caps.

Rockefeller — who has long worried about how emissions limits would affect his home-state coal industry — said some lawmakers expressed concern about the viability of the Kerry-Lieberman plan.

“I think there is a dominant concern ... that what’s the point of doing anything without 60 votes,” he told reporters. “And I think that there’s some feeling that you don’t spend time on the floor trying to figure out if you have got 60 votes. You have to understand before you go to the floor that you have got 60 votes.”

Asked if he thought Kerry’s plan could get 60 votes, Rockefeller replied: “I don’t think so. But I think John [Kerry] does.”

Baucus said it was a “very good meeting.”

“Serious, not acrimonious, just trying to figure our how we can get good, solid energy legislation passed,” he said Thursday evening. “There was discussion of all options.”

Earlier in June, Reid sent letters to several committee chairs asking for recommendations by July 4 on what provisions should be included in light of the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill.