Graham to skip White House energy and climate meeting

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) will not attend a pivotal Tuesday meeting at the White House on energy and climate legislation between President Barack Obama and a bipartisan group of senators.

Graham cited conflicting hearings with Gen. David Petraeus, the newly designated head of the military campaign in Afghanistan, and Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan.

“I can’t be in three different places at the same time,” Graham told reporters Monday in the Capitol. Petraeus is appearing before the Armed Services Committee and Kagan is appearing before the Judiciary Committee.

Graham’s absence is notable because several months ago he helped breathe life into prospects for bipartisan energy and climate legislation.

He worked with Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) on a broad plan, but later abandoned the effort. He now supports more scaled-back legislation, leaving Kerry and Lieberman without GOP backing.

Graham said he asked the White House to reschedule the meeting,
which was initially set for last week but was postponed to accommodate
the meeting in which Obama fired Gen. Stanley McChrystal as the top
commander in Afghanistan.

The White House declined the suggestion, Graham said.

Graham’s fellow Senate Armed Services panel colleague Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) will attend the first part of the Petraeus hearing and then participate in the meeting with Obama, her spokeswoman said.

The White House on Monday released the list of 23 senators who are expected to attend the meeting with Obama. They are:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.); Senate Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander of Tennessee; Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.); Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and ranking member Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska); Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.); Kerry; Lieberman; Collins; Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio); Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.); Tom Carper (D-Del.); Mark Begich (D-Alaska); Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.); Judd Gregg (R-N.H.); Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.); Richard Lugar (R-Ind.); Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.); Bill Nelson (D-Fla.); Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.); Olympia Snowe (R-Maine); Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and George Voinovich (R-Ohio).

Tuesday’s meeting with Obama may lay the groundwork for Reid to craft a legislative strategy for trying to get 60 votes this year on an energy and climate plan.

“I think he needs to lay out some principles … and offer to work with us in order to try to make that happen,” Kerry said of Obama.

The meeting comes amid divisions within the Democratic Caucus on energy, as well as bitter partisanship in the Senate. Many Democrats who attended a caucus meeting on energy and climate last Thursday came out in favor of a comprehensive plan that would “make polluters pay.”

But several Democrats who are skeptical of plans to limit greenhouse gas emissions — including Lincoln and Rockefeller — did not attend. Emissions mandates face resistance among most Republicans and some centrist Democrats.

Democrats have accused Republicans of rejecting any collaboration, and allege Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told Republicans to avoid cooperation at a meeting last week.

But Graham said speculation that McConnell threatened Republicans with losing chairmanships if they work with Democrats on issues like climate change is not true.

“I don’t know where all that crap comes from but it’s just complete crap,” Graham said. “Why is it OK for me to go talk to the president but I can’t talk with my own leader?”

He did say that the meeting McConnell had, with the Senate Republicans invited to the White House, revealed “no consensus by any means” on the position of the Republican Conference on climate and energy policy.

—Ben Geman contributed.