The White House held a meeting with Republican lawmakers to gauge the reaction to the idea of supporting a limited cap on greenhouse gases, AP reports.
The Washington Times reports that “President Bush is poised to change course and announce as early as this week that he wants Congress to pass a bill to combat global warming, and will lay out principles for what that should include.”
The administration discussed a proposal that would limit the emissions cap to electric power plants (unlike legislation, co-sponsored by Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and John Warner, R-Va., that would cap greenhouse gas emissions from most sources) while also allowing a “safety valve” if the cost became too high.
The reaction was negative enough, “with some participants viewing it as ‘political appeasement’ on global warming,” that the White House may now be retreating on the issue.