Bloomberg.com
By Daniel Whitten
Aug. 31 (Bloomberg) — The chief Senate sponsors of a bill aimed at curbing global warming have pushed back its introduction from next week until later in September.
Democratic Senators Barbara Boxer of California and John Kerry of Massachusetts, in an e-mailed statement today, cited Kerry’s hip surgery this month, the death of Senator Edward Kennedy and the debate over health-care legislation as reasons for the delay.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said in July that he wanted the committees with jurisdiction over the measure to complete their work by Sept. 28. Boxer, the chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, said earlier this month that she would introduce her plan next week so it could be approved by the committee before the end of September.
Boxer and Kerry “are working diligently to craft a well- balanced bill, and Senator Reid fully expects the Senate to have ample time to consider this comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation before the end of the year,” Jim Manley, a spokesman for Reid, said in an e-mailed statement today.
The House passed a cap-and-trade bill in June that would require power plants, factories, oil refineries and others to reduce emissions 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.
