(I believe this would be some of that "showing leadership" I've heard mentioned)
W.House eyes veto if Senate curbs EPA climate powerWASHINGTON June 8 (Reuters) - The White House on Tuesday threatened a presidential veto if the Senate passes a measure to strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, is leading an effort against looming EPA regulation and has 40 co-sponsors for the bill, which is set for a vote on Thursday.
President Barack Obama wants the EPA to have powers to set limits on industrial emissions and other pollutants if Congress fails to enact its own legislation to fight climate change. Such a bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives a year ago but a similar effort is bogged down in the Senate.
Congressional and private-sector sources said on Monday the Murkowski plan would fail unless it found new last-minute support.
White House officials have been fighting Murkowski's efforts for months. Obama is under international pressure to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, blamed for heating the earth, while the the United Nations attempts to agree on a pact that would curb emissions worldwide.
"If the President is presented with this Resolution of Disapproval, which would seriously disrupt EPA's ability to address the threat of GHG pollution, as well as the multi-agency Federal GHG and fuel economy program, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the Resolution," the White House said in a statement on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason, editing by Jackie Frank)
http://af.reuters.com/article/metalsNews/idAFN0826461920100608 Statement from the White House here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/sap_111/sapsjr26s_20100608.pdf