The sponsors of a bill to promote U.S. energy conservation built it to pass in a Congress where almost nothing passes. After businesses complained, the authors deleted mandates for tougher building-efficiency standards. Then they cut provisions that would have increased the U.S. deficit. And they softened requirements that federal buildings phase out use of fossil fuels. With the changes, Senators Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, and Rob Portman , an Ohio Republican , built a coalition that included seven Republicans and seven Democrats as co-sponsors, and both the Natural Resources Defense Council and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. And it still wasn’t enough. Deep divisions on issues unrelated to the bill — such as the Keystone XL pipeline and regulations on the coal industry — doomed it yesterday. The result underscores that even legislation with broad support faces an uphill fight as both parties eye midterm elections that […]