Obama wants 'price' on carbon emissions. Republicans see 'tax.'

Putting a price on carbon emissions will help America reduce dependence on polluting fossil fuels and speed the transition to clean energy, Obama told a bipartisan group of senators Tuesday. Republicans decried that idea as a tax that will hurt the economy.

President Obama urged a bipartisan group of senators Tuesday to put a “price” on carbon pollution, as they draft energy and climate legislation the White House hopes to pass this year.

Many Republicans call carbon pricing a “tax” that would harm the already-ailing economy, and therefore they oppose it. But in the eyes of many Democrats, including Mr. Obama, a “polluter pays” provision in the legislation will help reduce America's unhealthy dependence on fossil fuels.

“The president told the senators that he still believes the best way for us to transition to a clean energy economy is with a bill that makes clean energy the profitable kind of energy for America’s businesses by putting a price on pollution – because when companies pollute, they should be responsible for the costs to the environment and their contribution to climate change,” according to a White House readout of the closed-door session with about 20 senators.

“Not all of the senators agreed with this approach,” the statement added, “and the president welcomed other approaches and ideas.”

Democratic senators who attended the meeting said afterward that Obama argued passionately for pricing carbon emissions. But they also acknowledged Republican resistance, and are trying to find a compromise that can win enough votes to pass. One Senate leader on the issue, John Kerry (D) of Massachusetts, said he and Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I) of Connecticut are ready to “scale back the reach of our legislation” to gain more support.

Last year, the House passed energy and climate-change legislation, but its ambitious “cap and trade” system for limiting carbon emissions is a nonstarter in the Senate.

Still, Senator Lieberman, speaking from the White House driveway after Tuesday’s meeting, sounded an encouraging note on the prospect for compromise with Republicans.

“A very important thing that happened around the table is that some of our colleagues who up until this time had been at least publicly reluctant about the polluter pays, putting a price on carbon pollution, said that they’d be willing to discuss limited terms of doing that in this bill. And to me that’s a breakthrough,” Lieberman said, according to ABC News.

One possibility is to cap carbon emissions on utilities, but not on manufacturing or transportation, Senator Kerry said.

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R) of Tennessee, another attendee at the meeting, said that as long as a “national energy tax” was off the table, he saw “no reason why we can’t have clean energy legislation.”

Finishing energy legislation by the end of the year could be a long throw. The Gulf oil spill has added fresh urgency to the issue, and the bill could raise the liability caps on oil companies and impose stricter rules on offshore drilling.

But Democrats are hoping to achieve much more, as the clock winds down on their large majorities in Congress. The death Monday of Sen. Robert Byrd (D) of West Virginia adds another wrinkle to the party’s drive for energy reform. Though Senator Byrd represented a coal state, he had shown recent signs of willingness to compromise on the carbon emissions question. West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin (D) has yet to appoint a successor, but whoever it is may not be so flexible.

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