Graham won’t negotiate on energy bill while oil spill influences politics

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Friday that he won’t negotiate an energy bill between now and November because the politics of the oil spill does not “favor what [he] wants.”

Graham had been the Republican negotiator on an energy and climate bill with Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) but dropped his support when Democrats tried to rush immigration reform to the floor.

{mosads}The South Carolina senator candidly said the ongoing Gulf oil spill precludes him from rejoining any such negotiation for months. 

“I will work with the president, Democrats and Republicans to come up with an energy policy, but I’m not going to it in the middle of an oil spill when the political environment doesn’t favor what I want,” he told WVOC radio in South Carolina. “I’m not going to do it between now and November when the oil spill dominates the politics and headlines.”

Senators are now working to cobble together another energy bill to bring to the floor, partly in response to the spill. But Graham’s comments indicate that finding a GOP partner may be tough. 

The details of new legislation are not clear — Graham took stabs at what it would contain, but said an attempt to pass a comprehensive energy bill would likely fail.

“I don’t know what they are going to do. I think they are going to come up with some safety measures, which will make sense, they are going to try to beat the heck out of the oil companies,” he said. “This idea of a comprehensive energy bill; I don’t see how it passes, I don’t see where there is 60 votes.”

In the Kerry-Lieberman-Graham framework, provisions for domestic production were seen as key to getting GOP support. But Graham said that criticism of the oil industry and drilling in the wake of the BP spill could make it impossible to get that language included in legislation.

Graham said that it was key to lift the moratorium on deepwater oil drilling, which was struck down by a judge this week. The Obama administration said it will fight to reinstate it. 

“I believe as a nation, we need to expand production for oil and gas. We need to find more here, safely,” he said.