Graham's exit puts climate change bill in limbo
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Graham had worked with Sen. John Kerry, D-Massachusetts, and Sen. Joe Lieberman, independent from Connecticut, to unveil details of their "tri-partisan" climate-change legislation.
But Graham declared Saturday that he was walking out of talks because of Democratic efforts to bring up an immigration reform package.
"Moving forward on immigration -- in this hurried, panicked manner -- is nothing more than a cynical political ploy," Graham wrote in a sharply-worded letter sent to business, religious and conservation leaders that he has been working with on the climate-change legislation.
A senior White House official told CNN that in recent days Graham has been privately threatening to abandon the climate talks unless Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, backed off plans to move to a debate on comprehensive immigration reform ahead of the environmental legislation.
Graham is the only leading Republican who has been working with the White House on the contentious climate-change issue.
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