Reid won’t commit to carbon provisions in energy bill, says caucus will meet again next week

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Thursday declined to commit to including climate change provisions in the chamber’s upcoming energy bill and said discussions are ongoing.

Reid emerged from a meeting with the Democratic Caucus that addressed the package Reid hopes to bring to the floor this summer. Another caucus meeting on the subject will occur next week, he said.

“That is why we are doing these meetings,” Reid told reporters in the Capitol when asked if he would commit to provisions that put a price on emitting greenhouse gases.

“There were a number of discussions today as to how we can arrive at what’s best for the country, and of course pricing carbon is part of our discussion,” Reid said.

Reid said he would do his “very best” to bring a bill to the floor before the congressional August recess, but hinted that the schedule could slip.

“As you know, we don’t get a lot of cooperation to help me plan the schedule from the other side,” he said.

Reid said the caucus is firmly behind passing “clean energy” legislation that helps the economy and national security and responds to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. But Democrats are far from united on the specifics.

“There are many strong passions and arguments about the best way to achieve these goals,” Reid said. “I am always focused on what is possible.”

He said Republican support will be needed and that lawmakers must craft a bill “that will overcome whatever hurdles opponents put in our way.”

“We need to write a bill that will pass in the Senate,” he said.

The plan is expected to include provisions ranging from new offshore drilling safeguards to wider support for alternative energy and energy conservation.

But it remains unclear whether advocates of provisions to impose limits on greenhouse gases from power plants and factories can overcome resistance among many Republicans and some centrist Democrats.

The meeting featured presentations from lawmakers who have floated various energy and climate change plans. That includes Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) — whose committee approved a broad package of energy measures a year ago — and Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.).

Lieberman and Kerry unveiled a sweeping climate change and energy bill last month. The caucus also heard from Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) — who has introduced her own climate change bill with Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) — and Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.).

“The discussions in our caucus today, no matter what side of the discussion you are on — whether lots of carbon pricing, little, or none — they all create jobs,” Reid said.

Reid spoke to reporters in the Capitol flanked by the lawmakers. 

Kerry and Lieberman are pushing hard to promote their bill. They showed the caucus a new seven-minute video that includes footage of President Barack Obama expressing support for climate legislation, and data from polls showing public support for emissions limits.

But Cantwell countered with a separate video presentation about her plan at the meeting. Cantwell and the plan's backers say it's a much simpler and more effective version of sprawling cap-and-trade plans. The Cantwell-Collins plan limits carbon from “upstream” sectors that produce or import fossil fuels, like mining and oil companies.

Several lawmakers who attended the meeting said it was largely devoted to presentations about the bills, with little discussion.

This post was updated at 3:39 p.m. and 3:49 p.m.