Democrats maneuver to advance U.S. climate change bill

By Richard Cowan and Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats in the House of Representatives said on Tuesday they were still working to pass a climate change bill by year's end as they scrambled to get enough of their fellow lawmakers to support the initiative.

But in an important procedural move, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman said he would leapfrog a subcommittee and have the controversial legislation voted on by the full committee before his end-of-May deadline for the panel to act.

Citing the approaching self-imposed deadline, Waxman said it "requires that we go right to full committee and bypass the subcommittee."

Environmentalists who want quick passage of the bill to reduce industrial greenhouse gas emissions have noted the measure would have an easier time getting through the full committee, where opposing viewpoints would be diluted by broader support.

Waxman and other Democrats on the committee met with President Barack Obama to discuss the climate change bill. "We are determined to pass a bill by this year," Waxman said.

But it is proving difficult to craft a law that can attract enough Democratic support and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said there is "not a consensus" on the issue.

House Republicans said they were dead set against any cap and trade legislation and instead called for increasing domestic energy production, encouraging conservation and promoting alternative fuels.

An official of one environmental group said the Republican ideas "look an awful lot like business as usual."