This morning a coalition of military officials, religious leaders, business leaders, Republican Lindsey Graham, and Democratic senators were scheduled to debut their “grand compromise” climate bill. However, this weekend dueling press releases and political positioning led Lindsey Graham to pull his support for the climate bill. The climate bill has been within the Senate for months and was set to ask government and companies to take payday cash advances to promote green technology and improve their environmental impact The bill is not entirely dead, and Lindsey Graham might nevertheless return to the list of sponsors.
Lindsey Graham pulls climate bill support
One of the few republicans that showed a willingness to negotiate with the compromise bill was Lindsey Graham. . One of the stated Obama administration priorities is the comprehensive climate bill. the climate bill in question is without Lindsey Graham’s support, though the White House has said it will nevertheless “work to secure bipartisan agreement.”
Climate bill concerns immigration reform
Nothing within the legislation caused Lindsey Graham to pull support for the climate bill. In his statement explaining his reasoning for removing himself as a supporter of the bill, Graham calls out the White House and Democratic leaders for insisting on immigration reform bill. An immigration reform bill has been on the docket to be discussed for a long when, though the White House and Democrats have pushed for forward motion on the issue much quicker. Lindsey Graham has stated that this “bait-and-switch” of issues is parallel to instant pay day loans no faxing – taking one issue now at the cost of one more later. Graham feels that highly charged Senate debate on illegal immigration would make it nearly impossible to discuss and pass a climate bill.
Lindsey Graham has been under significant pressure from Republican leaders to not work with Democratic senators on crafting a climate bill. Graham has had the opportunity of being the bipartisan support for contentious legislation. Graham claims that by putting both immigration and climate to the very same session of debate, neither will have progress made on them by leaders. In a statement where he removed his support, he explained by saying:
“But I will not allow him to play one issue off of another, and neither will the American people. They expect us to do both, and they will not accept the notion that trying to act on one is an excuse for not acting on the other.”
So what are you thinking?
Do you think the Senate could be able to discuss climate and immigration in the very same session?
Article Resources
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/25/us/politics/25graham.html?hp
Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2010/apr/26/congress-republicans-graham-climate-change
