If the Lieberman-Warner global warming bill, being debated this week in the Senate, passes Congress in its current form, the White House says President Bush will veto it.
The President hasn't seen a cap and trade system designed yet and proposed to this Congress that he could support, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in a press briefing.
"This bill would really damage our economy, threaten jobs to be sent overseas because if other countries don't have the same types of regulations we do, then entrepreneurs are more likely to site those businesses elsewhere," Perino said. "And then what you've done is you've sent the jobs overseas to places where they don't have the emissions reductions that we have. And so you haven't solved the environmental problem and you exacerbate a economic problem."
In terms of lowering emissions, Perino used the same language Bush used during his April Rose Garden speech. "There's a right way and wrong way to do it, and the President is more interested in doing it the right way," she said.
Bush believes the right way is for the U.S. to invest in new technologies, set realistic goals, pursue nuclear power, and act in concert with all major economies, including China and India.
"The bill being debated on the floor this week in the Senate is the wrong way," Perino said.
