Who Is In Denial?

Judith Warner is upset with the Republican Party's position on climate change. She made this warning in the New York Times:

Some conservatives argue that the Republican war on science is bad politics and that catering to the “climate-denier sect” in the party is a dangerous strategy, as David Jenkins, a member of Republicans for Environmental Protection wrote recently on the FrumForum blog. Public opinion, after all, has not kept pace with Republican rhetoric on the topic of climate change. A USA Today/Gallup poll conducted in January found that 83 percent of Americans want Congress to pass legislation promoting alternative energy, and a recent poll by the Opinion Research Corporation found that almost two-thirds want the Environmental Protection Agency to be more aggressive. 

If this is true, why didn't the Democrat-controlled Congress pass climate change legislation in 2009 or 2010? If it's so popular, what stopped them from doing it?