President Barack Obama indefinitely postponed meetings that were set for Wednesday with lawmakers from both parties on efforts to pass a climate change and energy bill.
A White House meeting with Republican and Democratic senators, scheduled for early Wednesday, had been aimed at settling a dispute over how to deal with greenhouse gas emissions in the legislation.
But late Tuesday the White House indicated that Obama's "meeting with a bipartisan group of senators to discuss the process for passing comprehensive energy and climate legislation this year has been postponed. More details will be released in the coming days."
One measure introduced by Democratic Senator John Kerry and independent Joe Lieberman aims to cut greenhouse gases by 17 percent from 2005 levels, using a so-called "cap and trade" system to sell pollution rights.
White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said on Sunday that Obama wanted the Senate to "pass a comprehensive energy bill that… deals fundamentally with the environmental degradation that happens from carbon pollution."
Emanuel noted that the House of Representatives has already approved a bill that includes the "cap-and-trade" system, under which companies buy rights to emit greenhouse gases from firms that use less energy and pollute less.
How to address with carbon emissions is the major sticking point in the legislation as Republicans reject the idea of any kind of carbon tax.
Obama, who has tried to harness anger over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill to forge what he called a new "national mission" on clean energy, had called for the bipartisan meeting to discuss the climate legislation.
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