Immigration law dispute snags climate change bill

WASHINGTON -- Climate change legislation was put on hold Saturday when a dispute over immigration policies and Senate priorities threatened to unravel an effort that took months of work.

Voicing regrets, Sen. John Kerry said he is postponing Monday's scheduled unveiling of the comprehensive energy and climate change legislation. The Massachusetts Democrat's announcement came after a partner in drafting the bill, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, threatened to withhold support if Democratic leaders push ahead first with an immigration bill.

Graham is angry that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada is considering that.

Legislation to overhaul immigration laws and grant legal status to millions of long-term immigrants unlawfully in the country could create problems for Republicans in midterm elections. It's a top priority for Hispanic voters, and most Republicans are opposed.

Reid's idea amounts to a "cynical political ploy," Graham said.

Kerry tried to assure environmentalists and other backers of the climate bill that the delay will be short. The legislation aims to cut emissions of pollution-causing greenhouse gases 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. It also likely will expand domestic production of oil, natural gas and nuclear power.

The bill would apply different carbon controls to various sectors of the economy, without a broad cap-and-trade approach.

Kerry, Graham and Connecticut independent Sen. Joe Lieberman have spent more than six months working on the bill they had hoped to unveil Monday. White House energy adviser Carol Browner praised the three senators, reiterating that the Obama administration wants the energy and climate bill done this year.

Environmental groups said they were disappointed with the delay and would push Democrats to follow through on their pledge to pass legislation.

Graham said putting immigration at the top of the legislative priority list would derail efforts to find common ground on climate change, a difficult issue involving critically important economic priorities. He warned that Republican lawmakers would not take kindly to being put on the spot with Hispanics. Many in the Republican Party's political base are adamantly opposed to "amnesty" for illegal immigrants.

"Moving forward on immigration -- in this hurried, panicked manner -- is nothing more than a cynical political ploy," Graham said.

Pushing immigration ahead of climate legislation risks angering environmentalists, who see this as their best chance in recent years to pass a bill addressing global warming. But Reid told fellow Democrats this week he wants to pursue legislation that would offer legal status to many unlawful immigrants before tackling climate change.

Hispanics voted heavily Democratic in 2008, and they have been disappointed with President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats for not following up on campaign promises to reform immigration laws.

Reid is up for re-election this year and trailing in polls in Nevada, where Hispanics are an important constituency. With Democrats facing a tough political climate in the midterm elections, energized Hispanic voters could make a difference in several states.

In a statement Saturday , Reid said he is committed to passing both immigration and energy this year.

"Immigration and energy reform are equally vital to our economic and national security and have been ignored for far too long," he said.

Both measures will require bipartisan support, Reid said, "and energy could be next if it's ready."

Comprehensive immigration reform requires significant committee work that has not yet begun, he noted.

Reid said he appreciates Graham's work on both issues, but added, "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."

The House last year narrowly passed a bill creating a system to cap emissions blamed for global warming, but has not acted on immigration.