House OKs far-reaching energy bill

The measure passes by a 235-181 vote, but the White House calls it a 'partisan bill' that has 'no chance of being signed into law.' One provision would raise vehicle fuel economy standards by 40%.
By Richard Simon
Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON -- The House today approved the biggest increase in vehicle fuel-economy standards since the days when gasoline cost less than a dollar a gallon, but the Democratic majority headed for a showdown in the Senate and with President Bush over other provisions in a sweeping energy bill.

The measure calls for a 40% increase in fuel efficiency for new cars and light trucks by 2020, for a fleetwide average of 35 miles per gallon -- the first time that Congress would have raised the standards since they were established in 1975.

The bill represents Democrats' first major effort to attack global warming and U.S. dependence on foreign oil since they won control of Congress a year ago. The 235-181 vote came a day after a Senate panel advanced a separate measure that would establish a mandatory cap on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, manufacturing facilities and other sources, another reflection of the political change in the Capitol since the election last year.

During debate on the House bill, Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of the Select Committee for Energy independence and Global Warming, said, "This bill today is really a signal to OPEC that we mean business, and it is a signal to the rest of the world that we are serious about global warming."

But the bill faces trouble in the narrowly divided Senate and a White House veto threat because of provisions--supported by environmentalists but opposed by industry groups -- that would repeal a number of oil-industry tax breaks and require utilities to generate more electricity from cleaner sources such as the sun and wind.

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