White House hosts meeting on energy, climate

At White House: 14 senators discuss climate-energy legislation
The White House hosted a meeting Tuesday with 14 key senators, many from coal- and oil-producing states, who oppose curbs on carbon emissions. Obama appears to be making a big push to win Senate passage of revamped climate-energy legislation. Senators John Kerry, Lindsey Graham, and Joseph Lieberman, who have been working on new climate-energy legislation and who met today at the White House for a discussion on the proposed bill. Harry Hamburg/AP

Obama will meet with key senators on energy and climate
President Barack Obama will meet with a bipartisan group of senators on Tuesday to discuss energy issues. Obama will meet with Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) -- the group working to craft a bipartisan Climate Change bill -- along with 11 other senators and top administration officials tomorrow. The meeting is set to bring together the chairmen and ranking members of top Senate committees on energy and Climate issues, as well as a number of...

New Life for an Energy Bill?
Lost in yesterday's Eric Massa circus was news that a bipartisan group of 14 senators -- led by Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) -- is pushing ahead with Climate Change legislation. The bill under discussion would put a first-ever price on carbon emissions. New York Times : "The rush of activity underscored the last-ditch push to produce a draft Senate bill before the spring recess that begins March 26."

American Petroleum Tells Lawmakers It Supports Carbon Fee Because It's Easier To Demonize
American Petroleum Tells Lawmakers It Supports Carbon Fee Because It’s Easier To Demonize The effort of Senators John Kerry (D-MA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) to craft comprehensive Clean Energy legislation that caps Global Warming pollution has brought some positive words from Big Oil and their political allies. In particular, the senators are considering a proposal by ConocoPhillips, BP America and Exxon Mobil to exclude petroleum producers and refiners from a...

Sen. Kerry lobbies for climate compromise; actual bill to come
The three senators writing Compromise climate legislation are Lobbying business groups in hopes of winning their support for the effort. One obstacle: the absence of an actual bill. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) briefed a group of electric utility executives this week on a broad outline of the plan. Kerry and his cohorts, Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), have also reached out to Tom Donohue, the president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who has been among the...

EPA chief warns of lost benefits with fragmented climate bill
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said Monday that moving away from a broad "economy-wide" Climate bill could hinder Private Sector investment in low-carbon technologies. A trio of senators hoping to salvage Climate legislation are mulling a plan that breaks with the sweeping cap-and-trade bill the House approved last year. Instead the senators " John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) " are considering a more fragmented plan that could impose a...

American Petroleum tells lawmakers it supports carbon fee because it's easier to demonize
The bipartisan effort of Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC), John Kerry (D-MA), and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) to craft comprehensive Clean Energy legislation that caps Global Warming pollution has brought some positive words from Big Oil and their political allies.

The Blanche Lincoln Energy & Climate Complex
Sen. Blanche Lincoln has put herself front and center in opposing efforts by her party’s leadership to pass or implement comprehensive caps on carbon emissions in the United States. She opposes the proposed Cap and Trade legislation that passed the House of Representatives and has been touted by President Barack Obama and senators John Kerry, Lindsay Graham and Joe Lieberman. Similarly, she has signed on to legislation that would block the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from...

DADT Reversal Wins Nine New Co-Sponsors
Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.) on Tuesday attracted nine new backers for his bill to overturn the Military’s controversial “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, but a Republican co-sponsor continues to elude him. In a statement, Lieberman announced his bill drew the support of Democratic Sens. John Kerry (Mass.), Dick Durbin (Ill.), Charles Schumer (N.Y.), Frank Lautenberg (N.J.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Tom Udall (N.M.), Bob Casey (Pa.) and Russ Feingold (Wis.). Sen. Bernie...

LIEBERMAN ANNOUNCES ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FOR REPEALING "DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL"
Senator Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) today announced that nine additional United States Senators have joined as co-sponsors to the Military Readiness Enhancement Act (S. 3065).  Senators John Kerry (D-MA), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Tom Udall (D-NM), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Bob Casey (D-PA), and Russ Feingold (D-WI) have signed on to the bill, which Senator Lieberman introduced with Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) and thirteen other...

New 'gang' gathering on energy? (Politico)
The meeting was called as Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lieberman, and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) near the release of their revamped Climate bill. Those three senators have dropped the idea of an economy-wide cap in favor of imposing different emissions curbs on different industries. The legislation would also provide new federal assistance to Nuclear Power plants, carbon sequestration, storage projects at coal plants and offshore oil exploration – proposals aimed at attracting Republican...

Graham's Closest Senate Allies Want Indefinite Detention of U.S. Citizens
Here’s another measure of how unlikely it is that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) can actually bring along GOP votes for closing Guantanamo Bay if only, only , the Obama Administration caves on trying Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a civilian court. Last week, Graham’s two best Senate friends, John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), introduced a bill presenting , essentially, the GOP response to Obama’s legal approach to Terrorism. (PDF.) Here’s a sampling of what...

Kerry Sparks Fight on Climate
But that’s not what Kerry believes. He said last week that Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is “determined to bring it to the floor.” The divide in the Democratic Caucus reared its head last Wednesday when Kerry — who chairs the Foreign Relations Committee — gave a presentation to his fellow chairmen on his progress in drafting a new bill with Sens. Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). Sources familiar with the meeting said Senate Democratic Policy...

The White House Confrontation Campaign
It was an odd scene. There was Karen Ignagni, head of the Health Insurance lobby, introducing President Obama's Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Before the two women shook hands today at the Insurance Industry's annual conference at the Ritz-Carlton in Washington DC, Ignagni said to Sebelius, "It is a delight to welcome you here today to speak with us." A delight? Sebelius has been heavily criticizing the Health Insurance Industry in recent weeks , castigating...

White House Immigration Reform Meeting Rescheduled for Thursday
Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) meeting with President Barack Obama to give an update on their efforts to advance bipartisan Immigration reform legislation will take place on Thursday.