Donkey Reid Promises Moderate Californification; Yet Capitalist Pig Bob thinks Coal Miners Stand to get the Ultimate Shaft

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones) -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Wednesday that he will take up climate-change legislation being developed in the U.S. House of Representatives instead of pursuing a separate package in the U.S. Senate. "The Energy Committee is having trouble getting a bill out of the committee - it is taking too long," Reid said at an event sponsored by the Center for American Progress Action Fund. "The House is going to finish their bill by Memorial Day, so I think that it's to everyone's benefit that we follow what the House is doing." The Senate's top Democrat said he met Tuesday with a group of 10 Democrat senators, including from Ohio, Michigan and Indiana, who are concerned about the effect of climate-change legislation on their states. "We're going to have to work with them," Reid said. States such as Ohio and Indiana that depend on coal for electricity are concerned about bearing the brunt of climate legislation, since it would make traditional coal-fired electricity more expensive compared to "cleaner" fuels. California, whose lawmakers are pushing the House bill, would be less affected because the state is less coal-reliant. "People are afraid that this bill is going to have California written all over it," Reid said. He said that people "will be surprised at how moderate" the House bill will be - "moderate but good." -By Siobhan Hughes, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6654; siobhan.hughes@dowjones.com Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/access/al?rnd=qazd6NLmUgw5SCAIQICR%2FA%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day. (END) Dow Jones Newswires April 01, 2009 12:11 ET (16:11 GMT) Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.- - 12 11 PM EDT 04-01-09