President Obama and congressional Democrats are ramping up efforts to gather support for a comprehensive energy and climate change bill. CQ Politics is reporting:

 

Tuesday afternoon, a bipartisan trio of senators writing a climate bill — John Kerry, D-Mass., Joseph I. Lieberman, I-Conn., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. — will meet with the heads of trade groups whose industries would be affected profoundly by any new law regulating carbon emissions.

 

Expected to attend the meeting are leaders of the American Petroleum Institute and the Edison Electric Institute, and a representative of the Portland Cement Association, among others.

 

Later in the afternoon, the president will meet at the White House with Kerry, Lieberman and Graham, as well as a bipartisan group of 11 other senators viewed as crucial swing votes on a Senate climate bill. Also attending the White House meeting will be Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson.

 

 

As first reported by The Washington Post, Kerry, Graham and Lieberman are expected to ditch a so-called “economy-wide” cap-and-trade bill in favor of taking different approaches to three sectors primarily responsible for carbon dioxide emissions: utilities, transportation and industry. The “sector by sector” approach is gaining momentum and is currently expected to win more support in Congress.

 

A release of the proposed draft or outline of the “sector by sector” bill is expected sometime this week.