Obama wants a US Energy & Climate Bill

Obama's first State of the Union

"... to create more of these clean energy jobs, we need more production, more efficiency, more incentives. That means building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in this country. It means making tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development. It means continued investment in advanced biofuels and clean coal technologies. And yes, it means passing a comprehensive energy and climate bill with incentives that will finally make clean energy the profitable kind of energy in America."

"I am grateful to the House for passing such a bill last year. This year, I am eager to help advance the bipartisan effort in the Senate. I know there have been questions about whether we can afford such changes in a tough economy; and I know that there are those who disagree with the overwhelming scientific evidence on climate change. But even if you doubt the evidence, providing incentives for energy efficiency and clean energy are the right thing to do for our future, because the nation that leads the clean energy economy will be the nation that leads the global economy. And America must be that nation."

The reaction of the Republicans is that cap-and-trade is jiust taxing: "In June 2009, the House passed H.R. 2454, the Democrat cap-and-tax energy bill. The bill imposes a national cap-and-tax regime that ultimately every consumer in the U.S. would pay for. Independent researchers, CBO, and the President all agree that this cost will be passed to consumers. There is little debate that a national energy tax would outsource millions of manufacturing jobs to countries such as China and India. " (GOP website)