After an unproductive meeting of the Democratic Caucus this week, the Senate Climate Change bill appeared to be in a state of limbo, teetering on the edge of total collapse. The large scale meeting between Democratic senators was supposed to illuminate the path for a unified consensus of the provisions in the legislation. Instead, the meeting resulted in little unity between the senators and an increasing amount of strife between advocates of competing legislation. At the meeting, the show was stolen by a handful of environmental advocates who came to the floor armed with posters of smokestacks, aimed at winning over moderates to their side, but did little to help advocate for a unified bill, despite the fact that most senators were in agreement over the need for America to achieve energy independence and move away from fossil fuels.

While Reid told reporters yesterday that the hour-long meeting was “productive” and allowed for “full, frank discussion,” other senators presented an opposing viewpoint. “There’s not a unanimous consensus on the need to price carbon,” said Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) after emerging from the meeting. “There’s a unanimous consensus on the need to move us towards energy independence, away from fossil fuels, away from petroleum.” However, as the meeting has showed, it will be the specifics of the bill that will make or break the climate bill in the Senate. On one side, Bingham, Cantwell, and Reid are pushing for a set of comprehensive climate change measures which will increase the number of climate jobs in the United States as a general goal. From the opposing side, Senators Lieberman and Kerry continue to work on a specific climate bill which will reduce carbon emissions up to 80% from their 2005 level by the mid-century via mandatory cap on emissions. Despite the overarching belief that the government ought to take measures to take America off of its addiction to foreign oil and build a sustainable energy future, it may be the petty disagreement on the specifics that will hamper the efforts on the greater ideal.