White House climate czar Carol Browner issued a statement tonight responding to Sen. Lindsey Graham’s suggestion that immigration would derail the bipartisan climate change legislation that he was set to reveal Monday.
Her statement is below.
We believe the only way to make progress on these priorities is to continue working as we have thus far in a bipartisan manner to build more support for both comprehensive energy independence and immigration reform legislation.
We commend Senators Kerry, Graham and Lieberman for the tremendous work they have done to date to seize this moment and build a new coalition of business and environmental leaders and their efforts to craft a bill that will garner the votes to pass the Senate.
We have an historic opportunity to finally enact measures that will break our dependence on foreign oil, help create clean energy jobs and reduce carbon pollution. We’re determined to see it happen this year, and we encourage the Senators to continue their important work on behalf of the country and not walk away from the progress that’s already been made.
