The Associated Press: Senators willing to scale back energy bill

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jvY56rUPBsr_5d-PcC6JlLJJG9nQD9GL3HE80

But the road to compromise looked anything but clear. Kerry, D-Mass., and Lieberman, I-Conn., said that during the meeting with Obama the president insisted the bill must include a price on the carbon emissions blamed for global warming — something that's anathema to many Republicans.

And when Republicans left the meeting they lambasted the approach, calling it a "national energy tax" they could never accept.