For US, global warming is now hot

0 Comments | AFP, February, 2007

WASHINGTON (AFP) — It was once exiled to the chilly wastes of fringe discourse, but now global warming is taking on a new urgency for politicians, businesses and campaigners in the world's biggest economy.

Climate change has zoomed up the Washington agenda since the Democrats retook control of Congress last month, with a flurry of committee hearings last week and several bills now in the legislative pipeline.

A decade ago, the Senate voted unanimously against any action by the United States without equal action by major developing economies. But now the Democrats are promising a grand law by Independence Day, July 4.

Even the Republican administration of President George W. Bush is sounding less reticent. Bush used the high-profile stage of his State of the...