Barack Obama, Greenhouse Gas Emissions | featured news

Four of President Barack Obama's top environmental and energy officials are urging the Senate to pass legislation to reduce emissions of the gases linked to global warming.

The heads of the Energy Department, Agriculture Department, Interior Department and Environmental Protection Agency told a Senate panel Tuesday they should pass a bill similar to one the House narrowly cleared late last month. That legislation would impose the first limits on greenhouse gases, reducing them by 80 percent by mid-century.

President Barack Obama is asking consumers to put their money -- up to $1,300 per new vehicle by 2016 -- behind his plan for higher efficiency standards for cars and trucks and tougher rules on their greenhouse gas emissions.