Congress continues to wrestle with climate legislation. In the waning days of the previous legislative session in early December 2007, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved S.2191, the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act. Significantly, this action represents the first time a greenhouse gas cap-and-trade bill has ever been voted out of a congressional committee. The bill is designed to cap U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from the electric utility, transportation, and manufacturing industries at 2005 levels by 2012. These three sectors- which collectively are responsible for more than 80 percent of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions-would then need to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, and by 70 percent by 2050.
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