Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/cap-and-trade-bill-passes-house-energy-panel Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript The House Energy and Commerce Committee approved Friday a cap-and-trade bill for greenhouse gas emissions. A reporter examines the bill's pros and cons and the state of the energy and climate policy debate. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. JIM LEHRER: Jeffrey Brown has our global warming story. JEFFREY BROWN: A divided House committee took a first step last night towards passing sweeping climate change legislation that would fundamentally alter the way the U.S. uses energy.The bill, shepherded through the House Energy and Commerce Committee by its Democratic chairman, Henry Waxman, has as its centerpiece a so-called cap-and-trade plan. It would require power plants, oil refineries, and many types of manufacturers to obtain permits for the pollution they emit.Most of the permits would initially be issued for free by the government. Companies looking to emit more or less could then trade those permits in a market.This morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the bill a major breakthrough.REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), Speaker of the House: The House Energy and Commerce Committee passed what is transformational, something transformational in how we address the climate change issue. JEFFREY BROWN: Among other goals of the 930-page bill, called the American Clean Energy and Security Act: reducing total climate-changing emissions from 2005 levels, a 17 percent cut by 20, and 83 percent lower by 2050; setting new efficiency standards for lighting, buildings, and industry; and mandating an increase in the use of renewable energy resources, like wind and solar power.BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States: A green, renewable energy economy isn't some pie-in-the-sky, far-off future. It is now.