US President Barack Obama's top Senate ally said Tuesday he and other senior lawmakers had drawn up a "rough draft" of climate and energy legislation to be introduced in two weeks.
"I now have a rough draft of what we're going to do," Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters. "I hope to be able to have a bill introduced (the) week after next."
Obama has pushed the US Congress to pass a comprehensive bill to battle climate change and foster alternative and renewable energy sources this year, despite partisan tensions ahead of November mid-term elections.
But his Republican foes offered no sign they would water down their opposition to an approach they have branded an "energy tax" on struggling consumers mired in a sour economy.
Reid said he had met with top senate committee leaders and would consult with Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and the top White House official on fighting climate change, Carol Browner.
Reid said he was working with Senate Finance Committee Democrats to craft legislation that would curb pollution from the utility sector in a way that helps consumers but declined to say whether it would cap so-called greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming.
The Senate leader also said the bill would include provisions covering the cleanup and recovery from the catastrophic Gulf of Mexico oil spill, another with clean energy and job creation, and another with reducing consumption, "which is vital to anything we do."
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