Democrats press Bush to address global warming

By Tony Czuczka Jan 19, 2007, 22:25 GMT

Washington - Democratic Party leaders Friday urged President George W Bush to shift ground and take a strong stand against global warming in a policy speech next week.

Bush is expected to talk about climate change Tuesday in his annual State of the Union address to Congress, but aides have ruled out any move toward binding limits on greenhouse-gas emissions for the US.

Democrats have stepped up pressure on Bush on environmental policy since the centre-left party won majorities in both houses of Congress in November elections.

'The president and his people must acknowledge - as the American people long since recognized - that global warming is one of the biggest issues facing this world, if not the biggest world problem,' US Senate majority leader Harry Reid told reporters Friday.

'Every other country recognizes it; America should recognize it,' he said.

As part of the Democratic agenda, House lawmakers Thursday voted to repeal 7.7 billion dollars in tax breaks for oil companies passed by Congress when Bush's Republicans were in control. The money is slated to be used to promote alternative energy sources.

'On Tuesday, we're looking forward to the president finally joining the energy debate,' Reid said.

Bush rejected the Kyoto Protocol when he took office in 2001, saying the UN accord's cuts in fossil-fuel emissions, which are believed to cause global warming, would hurt the US economy.

US officials also noted that the treaty does not cover energy- hungry emerging economies such as China and India.

But the US mood has shifted with growing evidence of climate change.

An informal coalition of environmental groups and US companies including General Electric, chemical maker DuPont and aluminium giant Alcoa plans to urge Congress and the Bush administration to address climate change quickly, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

The group plans to hold a news conference Monday ahead of Bush's speech, the business daily said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a fellow centre-right leader, has pledged to make combating climate change a focus of her country's 2007 presidency of the Group of Eight, made up of leading rich nations including the US.

The European Commission, the European Union's head office, proposed this month that the 25-nation EU commit to cutting greenhouse-gas output by at least 20 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020.

Even Bush, a friend of the oil industry, has changed his tone. In his 2006 State of the Union speech, he said the US is 'addicted to oil' and proposed higher spending on other fuels and energy sources - from nuclear power to ethanol from corn and other plants grown in the US.