09.06.2008 Bush Votes Down Climate Bill

President Bush weighed against a Senate bill that would require dramatic cuts in climate-changing greenhouse pollution, cautioning senators "to be very careful about running up enormous costs for future generations of Americans." The Senate climate bill would cut emissions of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels and other greenhouse gases by about 70% over the next four decades. The bill targets power plants, refineries, factories and transportation.

Supporters argue that the shift away from fossil fuels can be made without significant economic damage and that failure to address global warming itself would produce greater economic harm later this century. Bush said that the Senate bill "would impose roughly $6 trillion in new costs on the American economy. The bill would require an 18% reduction of greenhouse gases below 2005 levels by 2020 and about 70% below that level by 2050. Some sources would not be covered, so the overall U.S. emission reductions would be by about two-thirds by 2050.

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