Talk Radio News Service: News, Politics, Media

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) Wednesday endorsed a Republican alternative to the Kerry-Lieberman energy bill, a piece of legislation he initially helped write.

Graham said during a press briefing that he “thoroughly enjoyed” working with Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), but that the new legislation, introduced earlier in the day by Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.), “lowers emissions, creates jobs and cleans the air ... without putting a cap on carbon.”

“It rewards low carbon technology,” Graham explained. “It gives an economic incentive for a company to replace coal fired plants with new technology.”

Added the South Carolina Republican, “the carrot-stick approach is the basis of cap and trade. This is a carrot-stick approach where there are more carrots than there are sticks.”

According to Lugar, the new legislation will reduce green house gas emissions 20 percent and oil dependence by 40 percent within the next twenty years.