Crunch time in House: Close vote expected on US climate bill (Roundup)

By Chris Cermak Jun 26, 2009, 20:12 GMT

Washington - The US House of Representatives could vote late Friday on a historic climate bill that for the first time would force companies to limit greenhouse-gas emissions blamed for global warming.

But the prospects for the legislation were unclear. Congress is deeply divided and a flurry of lobbying by supporters and opponents was underway in the final hours before the vote. A key procedural vote Friday morning just barely passed in the chamber.

President Barack Obama, who has made global warming and clean energy legislation a top priority, hopes the bill will bolster the US bargaining position at a key global climate meeting in Copenhagen in December. He met privately Thursday with legislators still on the fence.

Climate groups, business groups, industry groups and others have been out in force with television advertisements and mobilizing their supporters to call their congressional representatives this week.

The legislation would develop a so-called cap-and-trade system, which already exists in Europe and creates a market for carbon dioxide emissions that cause global warming. Companies would get pollution allowances that can be traded between dirtier and cleaner firms.

Lawmakers were locked in a spirited debate on the floor of the House throughout the afternoon. Opposition Republicans said the bill would impose an undue burden on the US economy and shift jobs to emerging economies with less stringent environmental rules.

'The jobs will go to China and the (US) economy will go to hell,' said Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican from California. 'Wake up America!'

Obama hopes a cap-and trade system will cut US emissions 17 per cent below 2005 levels - about 7 per cent below 1990 levels - by 2020, and nearly 80 per cent below 2005 levels by 2050.

The European Union by contrast has committed to a 20-per-cent cut below 1990 levels by 2020 and called for other wealthy countries to adopt stiffer targets as well.

After a White House meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Obama said the United States had failed to tackle climate change in the past few years and acknowledged the US was lagging behind Europe in reducing emissions.

'Europe in many ways over the last several years has moved more rapidly than the United States,' Obama said. He was 'impressed' with Germany's 'foresight and commitment to clean energy.'

'It is my hope that the United States will match that commitment today,' Obama said, urging the House to approve the legislation.

But the bill has been watered down over the last few weeks. Democratic leaders were forced into last-minute compromises to get the backing of lawmakers from farm and coal producing states, agreeing to hand out some pollution credits for free.

Leonard Boswell, a Democrat from the mid-western state of Iowa, said he supported the bill 'with some reservation' and said he was 'not giving up' in winning more concessions for rural states as the legislation makes its way through Congress.

The compromises have made some climate groups uneasy. US businesses, many of which have pushed for a federal cap to replace a patchwork of state regulations, have also been divided over whether to support the bill.

The United States, which together with China emits about half of the world's greenhouse gases, has faced pressure from other governments to more aggressively reduce its carbon footprint.

What the United States does is also considered key to reaching an agreement an the Copenhagen summit, where the world's governments hope to agree on a new global treaty to combat climate change.