U.S. Climate Change Legislation

As the scientific evidence of climate change has mounted, so has Congressional activity. Members of the 110^th Congress (2007-2008) are introducing legislation related to global climate change at a faster pace than any previous Congress. As of July 2008, lawmakers had introduced more than 235 bills, resolutions, and amendments specifically addressing global climate change and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions—compared with the 106 pieces of relevant legislation the previous Congress submitted during its entire two-year (2005-2006) term. The Pew Center has analyzed major economy-wide cap-and-trade legislation proposed in the 110th Congress [1].

Addressing the challenge of climate change will ultimately require enactment of a comprehensive set of approaches, and will no doubt be a long-term proposition. On December 5, 2007, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee became the first full Congressional committee to approve a greenhouse gas cap-and-trade measure. This bill, the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act, was debated in the Senate during the week of June 2, 2008, becoming the first greenhouse gas cap-and-trade bill to come to the Senate floor through regular order. On June 6, 2008,  the Senate voted on whether to end debate (i.e., to “invoke cloture”) on the substitute amendment to S.3036, sponsored by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA). Had the motion passed, the Senate would have moved to a post-cloture debate on the bill, followed by a vote on the substitute itself. The motion received 48 votes, with 36 voting against, falling short of the 60 votes required to invoke cloture, and the bill was withdrawn. A full selection of Pew Center resources [2] on Lieberman-Warner, including bill analysis and a complete overview of the floor debate, is available here [3]

In the House, the Energy and Commerce Committee [4] is also preparing climate change legislation and has produced white papers concerning key issues of comprehensive climate change legislation. The Pew Center issued a response to the paper concerning competitiveness and developing country engagement [5].

Visit this section often to stay up to date on legislation and Congressional activity regarding global climate change.