WASHINGTON - Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming has helped push back President Barack Obama's attempt to include climate change legislation within the federal budget.

The Senate voted 67-31 Wednesday for an amendment that keeps Obama's "cap and trade" proposal out of the budget reconciliation process. Supporters sought to force the measure through using rules that would have limited debate and required only a simple majority vote in the Senate.

The cap and trade proposal attempts to limit smokestack emissions by assigning a monetary value to pollutants.

Opponents call the proposal an energy tax that would be passed from companies to consumers.

Barrasso says support for the amendment came from "all sides of the climate debate." He says Congress can now have a "full, open and honest debate about cap and trade legislation."