Cars take charge
Dina Cappiello- AP
Issue date: 5/6/09 Section: News
WASHINGTON (AP) - Key lawmakers agreed Tuesday on a strategy for replacing gas-guzzling cars with more fuel-efficient models, but much tougher negotiations lie ahead on a bill that would, for the first time, limit emissions linked to global warming.
President Barack Obama summoned three dozen House Democrats to the White House in an effort to build consensus around climate and energy legislation that is under increasing criticism from Republicans and members of his own party.
The administration has endorsed the bill broadly, saying it would advance key parts of the president's domestic agenda, namely slowing global warming and transitioning to a clean energy economy.
But the details have largely been left to the House Energy committee, which is still working on the final language and has postponed a vote due to cost concerns raised by the panel's moderate Democrats.
Committee members emerged from the meeting Tuesday claiming a modest victory. They said they agreed to embrace a "cash for clunkers" plan that would provide $3,500 or $4,500 to people who replace old, low-efficiency cars with new, more fuel-efficient models.
But they acknowledged that tougher matters remain, and that some of the resistance was coming from Democrats from coal- and oil-producing states that could struggle to meet the bill's mandates for pollution reductions and renewable electricity generation.
"Our committee is attempting to develop a consensus," committee chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., told reporters after the White House meeting. "Many of the issues split us along a regional basis. But we're talking to each other."
Chief among them is a "cap and trade" proposal that would set a ceiling and put a price on greenhouse gas emissions. Companies would either purchase or receive their allowance for free, and then buy or sell portions of their allotment to meet emissions limits.
Obama's budget expects to raise $650 billion by auctioning off all the allowances to companies that release heat-trapping gases, with the bulk of the money going back to families to help with higher energy prices.
President Barack Obama summoned three dozen House Democrats to the White House in an effort to build consensus around climate and energy legislation that is under increasing criticism from Republicans and members of his own party.
The administration has endorsed the bill broadly, saying it would advance key parts of the president's domestic agenda, namely slowing global warming and transitioning to a clean energy economy.
But the details have largely been left to the House Energy committee, which is still working on the final language and has postponed a vote due to cost concerns raised by the panel's moderate Democrats.
Committee members emerged from the meeting Tuesday claiming a modest victory. They said they agreed to embrace a "cash for clunkers" plan that would provide $3,500 or $4,500 to people who replace old, low-efficiency cars with new, more fuel-efficient models.
But they acknowledged that tougher matters remain, and that some of the resistance was coming from Democrats from coal- and oil-producing states that could struggle to meet the bill's mandates for pollution reductions and renewable electricity generation.
"Our committee is attempting to develop a consensus," committee chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., told reporters after the White House meeting. "Many of the issues split us along a regional basis. But we're talking to each other."
Chief among them is a "cap and trade" proposal that would set a ceiling and put a price on greenhouse gas emissions. Companies would either purchase or receive their allowance for free, and then buy or sell portions of their allotment to meet emissions limits.
Obama's budget expects to raise $650 billion by auctioning off all the allowances to companies that release heat-trapping gases, with the bulk of the money going back to families to help with higher energy prices.
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