President Barack Obama clears major global warming hurdle

President Barack Obama has cleared a major hurdle in getting the US to tackle global warming after Congress passed a sweeping bill to transform America's use and production of energy.

By Leonard Doyle in Washington Published: 5:30PM BST 27 Jun 2009

The Jeffery Energy Center coal power plant near Emmitt, Kansas. Sweeping legislation to curb the pollution linked to global warming and create a new energy-efficient economy is headed to an uncertain future in the Senate after squeaking through the House. Photo: AP
It is the first major action by the US to address climate change.
The legislation, approved by the House of Representatives, would force American industries to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases, but the plans have drawn the ire of critics.

Republicans argue that they would destroy jobs.
The Senate must now approve the legislation, and the president used his weekly radio and internet address yesterday to urge it to do so.
The President described the bill as "a bold and necessary step." He said he wanted to sign the legislation quickly, "so that we can say, at long last, that this was the moment when we decided to confront America's energy challenge and reclaim America's future."
It took personal pleas from Hillary Clinton, former vice president Al Gore, and Mr Obama to persuade Democrats and some Republicans to get the legislation through the House of Representatives.
Congress finally voted 219 to 212 late on Friday, just one vote more than the simple majority of 218 needed.
Forty Democrats voted against the bill and only eight Republicans supported it, a reflection of the fragility of efforts to reduce America's voracious appetite to consume energy. Democrats and Republicans, especially those from coal producing and industrial states, are politically vulnerable at a time of economic difficulty and widespread unemployment.
The climate change bill is a cap-and-trade system to limit emissions of heat-trapping gases, in effect a tax on energy use. The licences would grow more restrictive over time, pushing up the price of carbon emissions while persuading industry to adopt cleaner ways of making and consuming energy.
Months of wrangling now lie ahead in the Senate, where it takes 60 votes to end a debate. Although Democrats hold 59 seats, the expected impact of the legislation on job losses makes them especially vulnerable to defections.
Mr Obama wants the legislation in place before December so that he can claim leadership at the big planned international climate change conference in Copenhagen.
Rep John Culberson of Texas, a Republican, said the bill "is the equivalent to a light switch tax - if this bill becomes law, Americans will pay higher taxes every time we turn on our lights."