Senate leaders now say a climate change bill will reach the floor no earlier than next spring. The announcement now means the Democrat-controlled Congress will not meet at least one of its goals by the end of this year - enacting two of President Obama’s legislative priorities — health care and a cap on carbon emissions.

Odds are that election year politics will keep the Senate from passing any climate bill, especially since Senate committee chairmen remain divided over the climate bill as clear differences have emerged among the Democratic chairmen of the six Senate committees with jurisdiction over climate change legislation. Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-West Virginia), chairman of the Commerce Committee, who both represent states with significant coal industries, would like to proceed cautiously.

Senator Rockefeller said this week "Most of the country doesn't know what cap-and-trade is. They have no idea. I would say half the Senate have no idea what cap-and-trade is and could not explain it," adding, "You have to get this stuff out to the American people before you change their lives, and we are not paying any attention to that."