For weeks, Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) has opposed climate change legislation. In the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, he openly voiced his doubts and was the only Democrat to refrain from voting for the bill’s passage. Now that the bill is in the Finance Committee, which Baucus chairs, many worry that the bill is doomed. However, it looks like Baucus might have outwitted us all.

Aaron Wiener of the Washington Independent reports that Baucus’s opening statement at the Finance Hearing on Tuesday was surprisingly favorable. Baucus pledged his commitment to “passing meaningful, balanced climate change legislation” and even preempted economic attacks on the bill.

The U.S. might not have to go to December’s climate change talks in Copenhagen empty handed. Two weeks after Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA) unveiled a new draft of the climate change bill, Kerry and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) announced their bipartisan partnership to pass climate change legislation in an op-ed for the New York Times.  By working together, the two hope to appeal to their respective party’s interests and help the climate change bill get 60 votes in the Senate.