Market News
March 25, 2009
Obama makes bold climate bill prediction: 'We'll get it done'
President Obama struck an optimistic note last night on the prospects for signing a major global warming law, pledging also to craft a bill that takes into account economic concerns and the country's regional differences over energy production.
In his second primetime news conference since taking office, Obama nudged Congress to focus its attention on passing cap-and-trade legislation through regular order rather than get tangled up on the measure during a preliminary debate this month over the nonbinding budget resolution.
"Our point in the budget is let's get started now," Obama said. "We can't wait. And my expectation is that the energy committees, or other relevant committees, in both the House and the Senate, are going to be moving forward a strong energy package. It'll be authorized. We'll get it done. And I will sign it."
Obama last month sent Congress a budget blueprint that included specific emission limits and some detailed recommendations for how to distribute hundreds of billions of dollars in new government revenue generated through the implementation of his cap-and-trade plan.
But the president acknowledged that even those specifics do not need to be reflected in the budget resolution that the House and Senate budget committees are voting on this week. "We never expected when we printed out our budget that they would simply Xerox it and vote on it," Obama said.
Pressed last night to explain how wedded he is to his energy and climate change agenda, Obama replied by focusing on the long-term implications of a more aggressive
"When it comes to cap and trade, the broader principle is that we've got to move to a new energy era," he said. "That means moving away from polluting energy sources toward cleaner energy sources. That's a potential engine for economic growth. I think cap and trade is the best way, from my perspective, to achieve some of those gains, because what it does is it starts pricing the pollution that's being sent into the atmosphere."
Obama also offered an olive branch to congressional Democrats who have expressed concern over key details of the cap-and-trade approach, including lawmakers who represent states and districts that are heavily dependent on coal and manufacturing industries. "The way it's structured, it has to take into account regional differences, it has to protect consumers from huge spikes in electricity prices," Obama said. "So there are a lot of technical issues that are going to have to be sorted through."
The president did not offer a timeline for when he wants to sign the energy and climate law. And he also did not mention possible federal regulations for greenhouse gases at U.S. EPA under a nearly two-year-old Supreme Court precedent that requires the agency to issue emission control rules should it determine that climate change threatens public health or welfare.
The White House Office of Management and Budget last Friday started its review of a proposed EPA finding that makes that very connection.