WASHINGTON (AFP) — President Barack Obama said Monday he was confident the Senate would move forward on a bill imposing historic US caps on greenhouse gases already passed by the House of Representatives.
Obama said House members who narrowly voted to pass the climate bill on Friday had put progress before petty Washington politics, and urged Senators to do the same ahead as they embark on a rocky road to their own vote.
"The House of Representatives came together to pass an extraordinary piece of legislation," Obama said, at an event in the White House announcing new plans to improve energy efficiency across the United States.
"In the months to come, the Senate will take up its version of the energy bill. And I am confident that they, too, will choose to move this country forward."
The Democratic-led House voted 219-212 to pass the bill, in a move the administration says will restore US leadership in the battle against climate change after a go-slow posture adopted by the previous Bush White House.
But the legislation faces a stiff test in the Senate, where many Republicans and some Democrats from coal producing or conservative states oppose the president's plan for a cap-and-trade system to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
The "American Clean Energy and Security Act" aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020, and 83 percent by 2050, to create "green" jobs, and wean the US economy from oil imports.
Obama also announced Monday that his administration would introduce new efficiency standards on florescent and incandescent lighting, in an effort to save energy.
"Now, I know light bulbs may not seem sexy, but this simple action holds enormous promise because seven percent of all the energy consumed in America is used to light our homes and our businesses," Obama said.
The president said that between 2012 and 2042, his proposals would save four billion dollars a year and reduce greenhouse gas emissions equal to the amount produced by 166 million cars each year.
To set an example, Obama said he would install energy efficient light bulbs in the White House.
The president also accelarated a 346 million dollar boost of economic stimulus funds to expand the development and deployment of energy efficient technology and residential and commercial buildings.
"When we put aside the posturing and the politics, when we put aside attacks that are based less on evidence than on ideology, then a simple choice emerges," Obama said.
"We can remain the world's leading importer of oil or we can become the world's leading exporter of clean energy.
"We can allow climate change to wreak unnatural havoc or we can create jobs utilizing low-carbon technologies to prevent its worse effects."
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