Congressional aides will discuss climate bill with business execs Friday

Kerry and Lieberman — and Graham before he backed out of the talks — have made an extra push to attract support for their plan from utilities, oil companies and large manufacturers. There have already been a number of background briefings for energy lobbyists on what direction the legislation was taking.

Energy lobbyists, though, are increasingly anxious to see legislative text and have resisted entreaties by Kerry to endorse the bill based on outlines and power point presentations.

“Not showing any text is not constructive at this point in time, given the amount of work that everyone has put in on the process,” said one source close to the negotiations.

Graham’s decision to withdraw his support forced Kerry to cancel a press conference to unveil the bill at the last minute last month.