The White House is encouraged by progress on a climate change bill going through the Senate and is working to advance it even if it is not completed by a December deadline, a key aide to President Barack Obama said.

Carol Browner, Obama's top adviser on climate and energy issues, told Reuters that White House officials were reaching out to Democratic and Republican senators in an aggressive push to move the bill forward. "There have been some bipartisan conversations that we find very encouraging," Browner said in an interview. "We are going to continue to do everything in our power to keep this moving."

Browner said if a law is not passed by the time U.N. talks on a global warming pact begin in December in Copenhagen, the United States would still have a strong position on the issue in the negotiations. "Wherever we are in the process, we will be able to manage in Copenhagen," she said.

Browner assuaged concerns from some critics that the president did not support a role for nuclear energy in the bill. Republicans such as John McCain have pushed for nuclear to have a more prominent place in the legislation. "It's something that we believe should be in a comprehensive energy package," Browner said.

(By Jeff Mason, Reuters, 24/10/2009)