The delay is a blow to EU leaders, who have been making increasingly desperate pleas for the US to make concrete pledges on emissions cuts that would help foster a Copenhagen agreement.
Reid says he will ask the US Environmental Protection Agency to do a detailed cost analysis of the climate bill co-authored by Democratic senators John Kerry of Massachusetts and Barbara Boxer, chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee
EPA officials estimate the analysis will take about five weeks, pushing expected completion until after the 7 December start of the Copenhagen
