Climate Change Update

October 9, 2009

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Barbara Boxer (D-CA) says a revised climate change bill will be available in the coming weeks. She announced that her Committee would not hold hearings or mark up the legislation until the EPA has assessed its economic impact. That could push markup of the bill into November. Sens. Boxer and John Kerry (D-MA) introduced the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act last week, but several key provisions in the bill have yet to be published. The Kerry-Boxer bill includes cap-and-trade language that aims to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. That target is higher than the 17-percent reduction target in the House-passed Waxman-Markey bill.