The bill earlier was passed by the US House of Representatives.

The prediction comes this week following an unprecedented 11-1 vote by Democrats to advance the Kerry-Boxer bill out of the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee.

No Republicans voted – a signal of the trouble that lies ahead on the controversial bill.

While the House has passed a bill, the Senate delay will mean the US will not have a final bill before the international meeting is held in December in Copenhagen seeking a new global agreement on climate change.

EPW chairwoman Barbara Boxer, who co-sponsored the Senate bill with Sen. John Kerry (D., Mass.), called for today's committee vote despite a Republican boycott of the all of the committee's three business sessions to mark-up the bill.

Importantly, however, a lone Democrat to oppose the bill was Senator Max Baucus of Montana. Reuters reported that Baucus opposed the bill's target of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 20pc by 2020 as too high. Baucus is said to favor a 17pc reduction.

Baucus chairs the powerful Senate Finance Committee, which also hold markups of the climate bill's tax provisions.

The Senate Agriculture Committee, chaired by Senator Blanche Lincoln, who has expressed concerns about the bill's impacts on agriculture, will also take place before the bill can go to the floor. Interestingly, Senator Lincoln also is a senior Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee chaired by Baucus.

Senator James Inhofe, the Republican leader on the EPW Committee, voiced strong opposition to the vote called Nov. 5 by Chairwoman Boxer. He told Fox News "this is history in the making, it has never happened before", referring to her decision to bypass Senate rules and call a vote with no Republicans present.