U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, on Wednesday insisted that climate legislation include tariffs on imports from countries that fail to adopt global warming policies, ratcheting up the rhetoric as Senate Democratic leaders seek to line up support within their caucus.

Speaking to reporters, Brown said that the "votes aren't there" unless climate legislation ensures that "countries that aren't subscribing to climate-change legislation and law don't get an advantage on everybody else." Ohio and other manufacturing states control a significant number of votes in the U.S. Senate.

Even as the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee aims to begin hearings and hold a markup in coming weeks, the action is already moving beyond the committee. Brown said that he is in talks with Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., whose panel will have jurisdiction over some climate issues, about the tariff issue.

"What he does may not work for us," Brown said. "If it doesn't, we work with the leader when the bill comes to the floor." U.S. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., will be responsible for crafting the final version of energy and climate legislation.

Brown also had tough words for General Electric Co. (GE) and its position on tariffs.

"Companies that have already outsourced so much production to the developing world don't want any trade rules to stop them from selling things back into the United States," Brown said. "GE is a great American company. They've done great things for our country, but they have a lot of production in China, and this bill is not written for GE. This bill is written to deal with climate change and it's written as a jobs bill."

-By Siobhan Hughes, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6654; Siobhan.Hughes@dowjones.com