Browner won’t forecast climate bill timeline

White House climate czar Carol Browner on Wednesday declined to predict whether climate and energy legislation will reach the Senate floor in 2010, but also said she sees important progress on the measure.

“I’ve been in this town, in and out of this town, for a very, very long time. Predictions about when something is going to happen in the legislative process are very, very hard to make,” said Browner, who was EPA administrator under President Clinton, at a Capitol Hill briefing.

Browner in November said she was hopeful about Senate action on climate change this spring, and Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) this month reiterated his plans to bring up a bill in that timeframe.

But Democrats’ focus on the economy and jitters about the mid-term elections, combined with resistance among many lawmakers to emissions caps, has bred uncertainty about whether climate legislation will remain on the 2010 agenda.

Browner, however, cited several signs that comprehensive climate and energy legislation is moving forward. She proclaimed herself heartened by the joint efforts of Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) to craft a compromise plan.

Browner also said that support for climate legislation among businesses groups, environmentalists and unions is a good sign, claiming there is a “meeting of the minds” that’s crucial to moving major environmental legislation.