Obama pitches energy plan at ‘tense’ meeting with Senate GOP

The White House and Senate Democrats face big hurdles in moving climate and energy legislation this year amid resistance to greenhouse gas limits among many Republicans and some centrist Democrats.

Speaking to reporters about the overall meeting, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said, “In terms of moving his program forward for the rest of this year, I don’t think the president helped himself very much.”

“The back and forth was very tense throughout the meeting,” Wicker said in the Capitol. “I felt that the president was very combative and I was surprised, since he requested the meeting.”

“I think most members … would say that it was a contentious discussion,” he added.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), however, said Obama received a “polite” response when bringing up energy.

Obama’s appearance comes as Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) are seeking momentum for a sweeping energy and climate package they unveiled May 12.

But the duo currently lack any GOP backing, which they need to win the 60 votes needed to advance the measure past a near-certain filibuster. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who helped craft the package, pulled back his support weeks ago.

Graham said he believes Democratic plans to bring up immigration legislation, combined with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, have made it politically impossible to advance the climate package.

Also, on Tuesday, Graham said that changes Kerry and Lieberman made to the package mean that he now has concerns about the substance of it as well. He noted that Kerry and Lieberman decided not to scale back the oil-and-gas drilling ban that covers much of the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

“The drilling provisions they came up with are not what we originally agreed to, and I can’t support them,” Graham told reporters Tuesday.

Kerry lauded Obama’s push for energy legislation and called for the president’s “continued engagement” in the effort.

“I think his dialogue today with Senate Republicans makes it crystal clear that President Obama wants the Senate to pass comprehensive climate and energy legislation this year and he’s doubling-down on making it happen,” Kerry said in a statement Tuesday afternoon.

While action on climate change legislation is uncertain this year, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has also raised the prospect of moving a smaller energy package that does not include limits on greenhouse gas emissions.