Player of the week: Sen. Joe Lieberman

Sen.
Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut Independent who has a penchant for
attracting headlines, is expected to put the finishing touches on a
long-awaited climate change bill with Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and
Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). And on Monday, he issued subpoenas to the White
House on the deadly shooting at Fort Hood in 2009.

It’s
interesting that two of the three senators who are leading the climate
change effort in the upper chamber backed Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for
president in 2008. But it remains to be seen if McCain, who is close
friends with Lieberman and Graham and considered running with Kerry as
his vice presidential candidate in 2004, will back their bill.

McCain
is in the midst of a challenging primary against former Rep. J.D.
Hayworth (R-Ariz.) and has moved right since losing the presidential
race.

Lieberman, meanwhile, is cautiously optimistic that he
can garner 60 votes to pass what is expected to be much more centrist
and narrower legislation than the climate bill that passed the House
last summer and Sen. Barbara Boxer’s (D-Calif.) measure that cleared her
committee last fall.

Still, Lieberman is facing a steep
climb to pass such a controversial measure with a little more than six
months before the midterm elections.
Kerry, Graham and Lieberman were
expected to release a bill by now, but the formal introduction won’t
come until next week. That means there will be plenty of lobbying
throughout the week as the trio of senators tries to get the legislation
ready for prime time.

Lieberman, chairman of the Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, who is working with the
White House on climate change, said he is tired of waiting for key
information on Fort Hood.

Lieberman and his ranking member,
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), last fall said their probe of the rampage
that killed 13 people would “require the prompt and full cooperation of
the executive branch — cooperation that must start as soon as possible.”

Five
months later, according to Collins and Lieberman, that cooperation has
been insufficient.