By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

Showing political courage, Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham has spoken out in favor of passing a climate change bill. Unfortunately, that may not be good enough.

Graham joined Democratic Sen. John Kerry in calling for action.

"We refuse to accept the argument that the United States cannot lead the world in addressing global climate change," they wrote in The New York Times on Sunday.

"We are also convinced that we have found both a framework for climate legislation to pass Congress and the blueprint for a clean-energy future."

Graham's action is significant because it is a break from the official GOP position that climate change legislation would hurt the U.S. economy.

Many energy companies, especially coal interests, have been campaigning against the bill in Washington because it could raise their costs of doing business.

True, a climate change bill that would cap and trade emissions would raise costs to consumers. But some kind of penalty is needed to coerce U.S. industries into reducing their harmful emissions.

Graham's support for some kind of cap and trade system at least gives President Barack Obama a chance to pass an emissions-reduction program sometime in the near future.

The question is, how many -- if any -- GOP votes can Graham bring with him when it's time to vote?

A carbon tax would be an even better and simpler idea than cap and trade. The straightforward tax would be harder for industries to "game."

But there's little stomach in Congress right now for passing the tax.