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Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter announced that he will be switching parties from Republican to Democrat on Tuesday.

What does this mean for the climate change agenda?

Sen. Specter's positions are roughly those of a conservative Democrat. He voted against the McCain-Lieberman climate bill twice and declined to vote for the Lieberman-Warner climate bill last year. He went on record saying that the bill contained “very difficult standards which I, candidly, do not think are attainable.”

With his switch, Democrats now have a 60-vote majority in the Senate. which is enough to overcome the Republican filibuster. But Specter has made clear that he’s not changing his positions and specifically that “I will not be an automatic 60th vote for cloture.”

Click here to read more about what this switch means for climate and energy legislation at Grist.org.