Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) said Wednesday that many families will see increased incomes under the climate and energy bill that he is unveiling with Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.).

Kerry’s comments – made during one of several morning TV appearances to tout the bill – are his latest effort blunt GOP allegations that capping greenhouse gas emissions will create major new costs for consumers and businesses.

Kerry noted that revenues from sale of carbon emissions permits are eventually cycled back to consumers through rebates on their energy bills. The lowest 40 percent of earners would see incomes actually increase, he said.

John Kerry said the energy and climate bill he is unveiling Wednesday would temporarily block offshore oil-and-gas drilling.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) will come out in support of the work product and effort behind a new energy and climate bill set for introduction today, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) said Wednesday.

Kerry, the author of a compromise energy bill with Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), said he expects words of encouragement today from Graham, the Republican senator who'd worked with them on the legislation until withdrawing support over concerns about immigration.

"Lindsey Graham will issue a statement today," Kerry said on MSNBC. "He stands by the work product of this bill. He supports this effort."

Graham had been part of talks with Kerry and Lieberman, but withdrew amid signals by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) that Democrats might also pursue immigration reform this year. For a time, it seemed as thought that push might have come before the energy bill.

The politics of immigration, Graham said last Friday, made passing the legislation set for introduction today "impossible" in the immediate future.

"We have a different opinion about what's possible," Kerry said during an appearance on "Fox and Friends," adding that support by Reid and President Barack Obama could ease the new bill's chances for passage. "I think he believes that with the right ingredients, if President Obama gets involved, if Harry Reid and all of us pull together, I think this could pass."

"But unfortunately with the immigration bill entering the landscape, it complicates the situation for Lindsey," Kerry said on MSNBC.

Reid has said that he'll huddle with key chairmen on energy legislation after the Memorial Day recess in Congress at the end of this month, and has opened the door for a scaled-back proposal.

As for immigration, another top Democrat, Majority Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.), said Wednesday that it's "unlikely" an immigration bill will move this year.

Updated at 12:39 p.m. Cross-posted to the Briefing Room.

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) is seeking to blunt political attacks on offshore drilling measures in his upcoming climate and energy bill by highlighting protections for states that oppose development.

Some liberal Democrats and environmental groups have ramped up their opposition to offshore oil-and-gas drilling in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

“We actually restrict the current plan of the president. We give states greater say in their future. I'm saying it restricts the current law and it restricts the president's plan,” Kerry said Wednesday morning on CBS’s “The Early Show.”

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) is using Twitter to warn Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) that their upcoming climate and energy bill shouldn’t pare back the no-drilling buffer off Florida’s Gulf of Mexico shores.

“Word is climate bill might let rigs in Florida’s no-drill zone. If Sens. Kerry, Lieberman are following me on Twitter: that’s a non starter,” Nelson tweeted on Tuesday afternoon.

Under a 2006 law, oil-and-gas leasing is banned in a swath of the eastern Gulf of Mexico that extends 100-125 miles off the Florida panhandle and around 235 miles west of Tampa.

The Obama administration and some Senate lawmakers have proposed giving oil-and-gas producers greater access to the eastern Gulf, but drilling faces new attacks as a result of the ongoing BP oil spill.

Cross-posted to the Twitter Room

* Reactions vary to the division of the federal Minerals Management Service

As we wrote about yesterday (here and here), the Interior Department plans to carve up its Minerals Management Service, the branch that regulates offshore drilling and collects billions of dollars in leasing and royalty revenue.

The plan would create a separate agency responsible for offshore safety and environmental protection.

Several senior Democrats had good things to say about the plan. But not everyone is impressed.

“Some in Congress and outside groups expressed skepticism that the organizational change alone would end what they called perverse incentives leading to rushed safety reviews and a regulatory system that largely allows the industry to police itself,” the New York Times reports.

A panel of the House Energy and Commerce Committee holds a hearing Wednesday with officials from BP and other companies involved in the Gulf of Mexico oil rig accident and spill. Ahead of the hearing, committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said that new legislation may result from the probe. Michael O'Brien reports on Waxman's comments in our Blog Briefing Room.

The legislation faces uncertain prospects including no Republican co-sponsor and outrage over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

A BP executive said an “anomalous” pressure test on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig could have signaled to workers something was wrong hours before the massive explosion that led to the Gulf oil spill.