Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) coauthored an op-ed with Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) in today's New York Times calling for bipartisan action in the Senate on a climate change bill.
We are confident that a legitimate bipartisan effort can put America back in the lead again and can empower our negotiators to sit down at the table in Copenhagen in December and insist that the rest of the world join us in producing a new international agreement on global warming. That way, we will pass on to future generations a strong economy, a clean environment and an energy-independent nation.
If Graham really does join with the Democrats, it would seemingly increase the chances of climate change legislation passing the Senate -- where 60 votes might very well be needed to pass a bill.
Sens. Graham and Kerry wrote that it's "true that we come from different parts of the country and represent different constituencies and that we supported different presidential candidates in 2008."
"We even have different accents. But we speak with one voice in saying that the best way to make America stronger is to work together to address an urgent crisis facing the world."
So what common ground do these two senators have on climate change? They wrote that "we agree that climate change is real and threatens our economy and national security." They advocate taking "advantage of nuclear power" through deregulation and encouraging investment to find solutions to dealing with nuclear waste. They want to break "our dependence on foreign oil" and push the U.S. "to become the Saudi Arabia of clean coal" by providing "new financial incentives for companies that develop carbon capture and sequestration technology."
They also want to continue "seeking compromise on additional onshore and offshore oil and gas exploration" and "consider a border tax on items produced in countries" that don't meet our environmental standards.
It'll be interesting to see to what extent Graham really does team with the Democrats on a climate change bill -- and whether he brings any other GOPers to the table with him. If he does, there really may be, as the senators wrote, "a road to 60 votes in the Senate."
Read the full op-ed here.

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3star2nr
October 11, 2009 3:08 PM
oh for christ sakes this shit again.
Is this the new way of saying "we want a complete pos bill that pays corporations"
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Ken Riley
October 11, 2009 3:33 PM in reply to 3star2nr
I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss Kerry's passion on this issue. He's even started a new think tank devoted to the impact of climate change on national security, Secure American Future.
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beachmom
October 12, 2009 9:07 AM in reply to 3star2nr
No. According to Climate Progress, an environmental group that actually specializes in this topic and knows what they are talking about, says this is a big deal.
http://climateprogress.org/2009/10/11/senate-climate-deal-lindsey-graham-john-kerry/
"Yes We Can (Pass Climate Change Legislation)
That is the stunning banner headline from a must-read op-ed in today’s NY Times by two unlikely legislative partners — Lindsey Graham, Republican senator from South Carolina, an ally of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), and John Kerry, Democratic senator from Massachusetts, lead author of the recently introduced Kerry-Boxer bill aka the “Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act.”
...
The odds of a Senate climate bill just jumped through the roof. Now the Senate needs to get off its butt and get this done.
If the deal they describe can be done, and I’m confident it can be, that would probably mean at least four GOP votes in the Senate — Graham, McCain, and Maine’s Snowe and Collins. But I suspect this deal brings within reach other gettable “Rs,” like Lugar of Indiana and Voinovich of Ohio and maybe even Lisa “the fiddler” Murkowski (R-AK), if she understands, as Graham and Kerry do, that the best way to avoid the problems inherent in EPA regulation is to pass this bill."
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Walter Mitty
October 11, 2009 3:30 PM
Graham just will water it down from the inside. I'd assume that the players in this bill didn't buy Dem senators this time around, so needed to use Graham to cross the aisle to water it down.
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theWalrus
October 11, 2009 4:07 PM
This article gave me a really good laugh today.
Thanks!
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LJG
October 11, 2009 5:00 PM
Just compare Lindsay Graham with South Carolina's other senator, Jim DeMint. Graham is usually sane and - at times, on some issues - almost moderate. I think we should use a little positive reinforcement when Republicans at least say the right thing, even if they don't follow up on it. Yes, I know Graham will try to water down the bill, but, like it or not, the American public likes us better when we at least pretend to be bipartisan. So, let's pretend. I would like to make Graham more visible and DeMinted as irrelevant as possible. Also, I don't see how a climate change bill can pass without some Republican help. (However, if we can get a strong bill without them, I'm all for it.)
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Ken Riley
October 11, 2009 5:17 PM in reply to LJG
I've had a soft spot in my heart (and, perhaps, head) for Graham ever since he took Rumsfeld out behind the wood shed at the Abu Ghraib hearings. It was all the more striking because he was immediately preceded by Lieberman who appeared to be attempting to fellate Rumsfeld from across the room.
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hawaiian
October 12, 2009 1:34 AM
I wish I where in the land of cotton,
Where all good thinking is quickly forgotten
look away, look away, look a way, Dixyland
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LBS
October 12, 2009 4:44 AM
From what I read, the bill is both pro Clean Coal and pro gas drilling. Carbon sequestration technology is dangerous (at this point very dangerous, not only in that a rupture can cause catastrophe apparently on a grand scale, but that it effectively makes us even more comfortable with the continued use of fossil fuels).
Can someone tell me how this qualifies as environmental legislation? This seems like a Republican bill that has gotten a liberal cosponsor, not the other way around. I am very dissapointed in Kerry -- this is not good news in the least.
(TPM: If you are going to cover envirnomental issues, could you please research the issues further. This article doesn't even to hit the political issues. For example: what happened to the Kerry-Boxer bill? Since when in Kerry clean coal? What's going on in the battle between "clean coal" and "green natural gas" the beloved of Swift-Boater T. Boon Pickens his acolyte, Tom Reed? Even on a political level there is something strange here.)
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hsr0601
October 12, 2009 5:10 AM
Youth are thirsty for their jobs !
America needs to seize the last opportunity of change for an updated energy economy and job generation that is the most intractable and integral part of recovery. America has the most potential for wind power on earth, and Detroit is able to become a hub for plants of wind turbines as Detroit has loads of skilled labors.
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