Senate blow to climate change laws
By Andrew Ward and Sarah O’Connor, Financial Times, April 2, 2009 [here]
President Barack Obama’s plan to push through climate change legislation as part of his $3,600bn federal budget appeared all but dead on Thursday after the Senate ruled out fast-track action on the issue.
A Republican-sponsored amendment passed on Wednesday night ruled that Congress should not try to set up a cap-and-trade system to regulate greenhouse gas emissions as part of the budget “reconciliation” process.
It also underscored the difficulty that Mr Obama will face winning support for his proposed cap-and-trade system even outside of the budget process, raising the possibility of the US arriving empty-handed at the next round of United Nations talks on climate change in Copenhagen in December.
Mr Obama had wanted legislation either passed or making progress before the Copenhagen meeting to signal US commitment to reducing carbon emissions and to encourage other nations to take action.
Draft climate change legislation was unveiled by senior Democrats in the House of Representatives on Tuesday in a sign that party leaders were determined to press on whether it was included in the budget or not.
But opposition is mounting as Republicans and some Democrats raise fears that cap-and-trade would undermine economic recovery by increasing energy costs. John Boehner, Republican leader in the House of Representatives, said the proposals would “raise taxes on every American who drives a car, flips on a light switch or buys a product manufactured in the United States.” … [more]