WASHINGTON — Global warming might be considered a threat to wipe out species and cause disastrous droughts around the world, but it wasn’t strong enough to break a partisan standoff in the U.S. Senate. Senate Republicans blocked major legislation Friday that aimed to combat global warming, prompting Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to pull it from consideration. The debate over the legislation, which would have capped emissions of greenhouse gases, never really got off the ground. Leaders of both parties said they wanted a full debate, but as is often the case in Washington, they couldn’t agree on how to conduct it. Still, the legislation’s proponents celebrated the vote as the most support the Senate has ever shown for caps on emissions. They also voiced confidence in the legislation’s prospects next year with a new president, likely new faces in the Senate and more time to address the concerns of opponents. ‘This is moving in the direction that history needs it to move,’ said Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., one of the bill’s authors. Supporters needed 60 votes to end a Republican filibuster, but picked up only 48. Another six senators who did not vote sent […]