WASHINGTON — House Democrats grew increasingly confident Thursday that they have the votes to deliver on one of President Obama's highest priorities -- a landmark effort to fight global warming and boost alternatives to fossil fuels.
With the vote coming as early as today, House leaders said they were closing in on majority support but had not locked it down yet.
"We're going to get the votes," said Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), who co-wrote the bill with Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills). "We're going to pass the most important energy and environment bill in the history of the United States."
Passage of the bill would be a major victory for Obama at a time when the president's poll numbers have dropped slightly and his administration is juggling efforts to overhaul healthcare, reform financial regulations, and deal with Iran, North Korea and other foreign policy challenges.
Mindful of the stakes, Obama on Thursday deployed Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, top climate-change advisor Carol Browner and several Cabinet officials and key staff to lobby on-the-fence lawmakers -- in phone calls and face-to-face meetings and at a long-scheduled congressional luau at the White House.
The president also made several calls to undecided members. He appealed to others in a quick afternoon speech in the Rose Garden.
"I know this is going to be a close vote," Obama said, "in part because of the misinformation that's out there that suggests there's somehow a contradiction between investing in clean energy and our economic growth. But my call to those members of Congress who are still on the fence, as well as to the American people, is this: We cannot be afraid of the future, and we can't be prisoners of the past. . . . Now is the time to finally act."
A presidential phone call helped win at least one vote: Rep. Debbie Halvorson (D-Ill.), a freshman lawmaker and former state Senate colleague of Obama's, said Thursday evening that after months of indecision, she "feels great" about the bill.
"I think it's something that I'm going to support," Halvorson said. "It's a thousand-page bill. It has a lot of amendments. I wanted to read it, take my time." Later, she added: "I had a nice chat with the president this morning."
Faced with the increasing likelihood that Democratic leaders would bring the bill to a floor vote today, Republicans and some industry groups -- including the American Farm Bureau Federation, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Petroleum Institute -- intensified their attacks.
