Prospects for enacting a climate change bill have faded for this year and possibly for good setting the stage for political repercussions both at home and abroad.
With prospects for Senate passage of climate legislation now dim President Obamas credibility on the world stage could be damaged and his ability to implement a signature domestic policy initiative is in doubt.
Obama has staked his administrations international standing on pledges to make the United States a leader in efforts to combat climate change starting with legislation to reduce carbon emissions.
And a cornerstone of Obamas domestic agenda a decadelong $150 billion investment in clean energy research counts on revenue from a cap-and-trade law.
Weve made all these commitments domestic and international based on the idea that this would happen" said Paul Bledsoe director of communications and strategy at the National Commission on Energy Policy which advises Congress. The budgetary implications of failing to get a bill this year are huge as are the international repercussions."
Efforts to frame a global climate change treaty have been hobbled for more than a decade by the non-participation of the worlds largest economy. Leaders of nations that enacted global warming policies still bitterly recall the Senates refusal to approve ratification of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol despite then-Vice President Al Gores promise that the United States would sign onto the first binding global warming treaty. Many leaders at the December 2009 U.N. climate change summit in Copenhagen convened with the goal of agreeing on a successor treaty to Kyoto were haunted by that moment.
But Obama and Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry D-Mass. the lead author of the stalled Senate climate bill told the world that times had changed. Both insisted that in 2010 Congress would enact a sweeping global warming law and the United States would become a leading international partner in a climate treaty.
Other countries were hopeful but skeptical. The agreement reached in Copenhagen failed to get the unanimous support needed for a binding treaty but world leaders said they would hold Obama to his promise.
Everybodys looking to the U.S." said Gunther Hoermandinger environment counselor at the European Union delegation in Washington. The U.S. is the indispensable missing link in order to get everybody else on board especially China India and other major economies. If a bill doesnt come out now it would be a severe setback. It will shift the international discussion."
Prospects for enacting a climate change bill have faded for this year and possibly for good setting the stage for political repercussions both at home and abroad.
With prospects for Senate passage of climate legislation now dim President Obamas credibility on the world stage could be damaged and his ability to implement a signature domestic policy initiative is in doubt.
Obama has staked his administrations international standing on pledges to make the United States a leader in efforts to combat climate change starting with legislation to reduce carbon emissions.
And a cornerstone of Obamas domestic agenda a decadelong $150 billion investment in clean energy research counts on revenue from a cap-and-trade law.
Weve made all these commitments domestic and international based on the idea that this would happen" said Paul Bledsoe director of communications and strategy at the National Commission on Energy Policy which advises Congress. The budgetary implications of failing to get a bill this year are huge as are the international repercussions."
Efforts to frame a global climate change treaty have been hobbled for more than a decade by the non-participation of the worlds largest economy. Leaders of nations that enacted global warming policies still bitterly recall the Senates refusal to approve ratification of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol despite then-Vice President Al Gores promise that the United States would sign onto the first binding global warming treaty. Many leaders at the December 2009 U.N. climate change summit in Copenhagen convened with the goal of agreeing on a successor treaty to Kyoto were haunted by that moment.
But Obama and Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry D-Mass. the lead author of the stalled Senate climate bill told the world that times had changed. Both insisted that in 2010 Congress would enact a sweeping global warming law and the United States would become a leading international partner in a climate treaty.
Other countries were hopeful but skeptical. The agreement reached in Copenhagen failed to get the unanimous support needed for a binding treaty but world leaders said they would hold Obama to his promise.
Everybodys looking to the U.S." said Gunther Hoermandinger environment counselor at the European Union delegation in Washington. The U.S. is the indispensable missing link in order to get everybody else on board especially China India and other major economies. If a bill doesnt come out now it would be a severe setback. It will shift the international discussion."
