Lieberman Comes Out Against Plan to Offer Climate Bill as Amendment

Sen. Charles Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) suggestion that the climate bill being drafted by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) might be introduced as an amendment to a weaker energy-only bill has left Lieberman at a loss for words:

“If you force us to put it on as an amendment, it is like we are a step-child instead of a child. Excuse me for that because I have some step-children who I love,” Lieberman said.

“It is like we are not the main event, we are kind of a side show,” he said. “We have to be at the center of the arena.”

Now that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has come out against the climate bill, two-thirds of its original authors are opposing a likely strategy to introduce it. That’s not what success looks like.