U.S. House panel tackles climate change bill

By Tom Doggett and Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers began wrangling on Tuesday over a climate change bill aimed at reducing carbon dioxide and other pollutants, with Republicans arguing the legislation would burden the economy with higher energy costs.

The House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee dug in for several days of debate over the Democrats' bill, which now takes up 946 pages. Chairman Henry Waxman has predicted his panel will have enough Democratic support for approval this week before lawmakers leave for their Memorial Day holiday.

Republicans are first expected to try to surgically remove the heart of the proposal -- the establishment of a "cap-and-trade" system that would gradually reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that utilities, steelmakers, oil refineries and other companies could emit. Republicans are expected to lack the votes to kill cap and trade.

Representative Joe Barton, the senior Republican on the committee, has warned Waxman, "You are about to embark on an episode of putting the entire American economy, which is the world's largest, through an absolute economic wringer."

In a party-line vote, the committee voted 36-23 against a Republican-sponsored amendment to end the U.S. cap-and-trade system if China and India did not adopt a greenhouse gas emissions reduction plan at least as strict as what the United States would have.

President Barack Obama has put climate-control legislation high on his agenda. He would like to see significant progress by December when world leaders meet in Copenhagen to consider coordinated steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It is unclear if Congress can finish a bill by then.

Obama on Tuesday called the legislation historic, saying it would help ease U.S. dependence on foreign oil, prevent the worst consequences of climate change and build a clean-energy economy.

With its mandate to reduce emissions 17 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels, Waxman said the bill would shore up the U.S. economy by encouraging new high-tech jobs while avoiding ecological disasters linked to global warming.