change bill intended to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions while reshaping the energy sector . The House passed its own energy bill last year , and Obama has said he backs the efforts by Kerry and Lieberman to move the issue forward in the Senate . The president asked for Senate GOP cooperation on the issue during a closed-door meeting Tuesday with Republicans on Capitol Hill . However , Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nevada , has indicated he wants immigration reform to take priority , and the politics of midterm congressional elections in November raises questions about the the possibility of gaining final approval this year of such major legislation as energy reform . Reid 's position caused a potential Republican co-sponsor , Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina , to drop out of the talks with Lieberman and Kerry on drafting the proposal . The proposal addresses a range of energy issues , including expanded nuclear power production , incentives for the coal industry to seek cleaner methods , money to develop alternative energy sources and programs to help U.S. industry in the transition to a low-carbon system . On climate change , the measure seeks escalating
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- President Barack Obama used the growing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to renew his pitch for alternative energy Wednesday , arguing that the unfolding environmental disaster `` gives you a sense of where we 're going '' without comprehensive reform . The federal government is `` going to bring every resource necessary to put a stop '' to the spill , the president said during a visit to a solar panel manufacturing facility in Fremont , California . `` We will not rest until this well is shut , the environment is repaired , and the cleanup is complete . '' But , he added , `` a lot of damage has been done already . The spill in the Gulf , which is just heartbreaking , only underscores the necessity '' of seeking alternative fuel sources . A failure to enact comprehensive energy reform , he argued , would pose a threat to national security and the economy , as well as the environment . Obama 's remarks came two weeks after Sens. John Kerry , D-Massachusetts , and Joe Lieberman , an independent from Connecticut , introduced a sweeping energy and climate