Waxman predicts climate change passage this year

House Democrats leading the charge on President Obama’s energy bill said Tuesday they expect to mark up a bill by the Memorial Day recess and have final legislation passed by the end of the year.

Lawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce Committee met with Obama on Tuesday to discuss climate change legislation.

{mosads}Asked if Obama was on board with the hard push for legislation this year, even with his healthcare plan on the table, Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said the president did not try to dissuade the committee and House Democrats from moving forward.

“We said we’re moving it this year, and he didn’t object,” Waxman said.

The timeframe could be difficult, given Capitol Hill’s busy agenda and a lack of consensus on the varying proposals in the energy plan. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) has said the House should proceed cautiously on climate change. In an interview last month with The Hill, Assistant to the Speaker Van Hollen suggested a vote might not take place this year.

Waxman said the committee is trying to present a unified front as it marks up the bill, in an effort to show that more liberal Democrats can find compromise with lawmakers from auto-producing states like Michigan.

“We want to be together, and we want to succeed with this legislation,” he said.

Waxman said the committee is continuing to work out some sticking points on the legislation, including the tenuous cap-and-trade proposal, adding that Democrats on the committee are “trying to be mindful” of varying regional interests, increased energy costs for ratepayers and the effect the plan could have on businesses.

Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) said the president told them in the meeting that “once in a while when you’re in Congress you actually do something that matters,” and that energy legislation is one of those chances.

House Republicans have railed against several components of the president’s bill, calling it a national energy tax that comes even as gasoline prices have started to climb ahead of the summer driving season.

Waxman said the Senate is waiting to see what the House will do on the energy proposal.

Waxman and other committee members also announced that the committee had reached a deal on the so-called “Cash for Clunkers” bill that offers rebates to consumers for turning in gas-guzzlers for more energy-efficient vehicles.

Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) said that the initial agreement “means progress, both legislatively and in terms of our saving energy.”

Inslee and others at the White House said the Cash for Clunkers agreement is the first step in “a thousand moments of creative tension” that prove that the committee and the Congress can work together to find a consensus on the overall plan.