Browner briefs lawmakers on Copenhagen plans

White House climate czar Carol Browner met today in the Capitol with architects of Senate climate change legislation and said international reaction to President Obama’s emissions reduction pledge has been positive, according to Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.).

Obama plans to attend the international climate talks in Copenhagen later this month, and offer a provisional U.S. greenhouse gas emissions reduction target in the range of 17 percent by 2020.

“We were just getting an update from Carol Browner on Copenhagen and how we can work with her,” Boxer said after leaving the meeting. Boxer said lawmakers asked Browner about the response to the White House pledge, and that Browner called it “pretty positive.”

Browner declined to comment after the meeting. Lawmakers in attendance included Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), who is co-sponsoring the major Senate cap-and-trade plan with Boxer, and also working with Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) on proposals.

Others spotted leaving the meeting include Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.).

Cardin similarly described the meeting as a chance to bring senators up to date on the upcoming Copenhagen talks and what the U.S. hopes to achieve.