Facing resistance from members of his own party, US President Barack Obama wants to meet with all 36 Democrats on the House energy committee to reach agreement on climate and energy legislation.
A White House aide said Obama planned to meet with the lawmakers yesterday to discuss two of his key domestic priorities — legislation to cut the emissions linked to global warming by requiring cleaner sources of energy and healthcare reform.
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman and Ed Markey unveiled a draft bill in March that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with a proposal Obama called for in his campaign.
POSTPONED
But the committee has postponed writing the final version of the bill because of concerns raised by moderate Democrats about the cost.
Obama’s budget expects to raise US$650 billion by auctioning off permits to companies that release heat-trapping gases, with the bulk of the money going back to families to help with higher energy prices.
Democrats from coal and industrial states are pushing Waxman and Markey to distribute at least some of those permits for free to ease costs.
IMPACT
Meanwhile, House Republicans were due to hold their own energy summit yesterday to highlight how the Waxman-Markey bill, which they call a national energy tax, will impact middle-class families and small businesses.
Also, a bipartisan group of seven House members yesterday were due to unveil rival energy legislation. Led by Neil Abercrombie, a Hawaii Democrat, and Tim Murphy, a Pennsylvania Republican, the group says their plan will “fuel the American economy rather than fueling partisan debate.”
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
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