Senator want climate bill's emissions rules strengthened

The Senate should require stronger reductions in carbon emissions than the ones called for in House climate change legislation, one senator said Monday.

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) argued that the Senate's version of climate change legislation should more aggressively reduce carbon emissions than the Waxman-Markey climate change bill passed through the House.

Merkley told the left-leaning environmental news website Grist.org that the most important way to improve the House bill would be to set more stringent caps.

"The first key thing is to strengthen the pollution-reduction target," Merkley said. "We need to have at least a 20 percent reduction by 2020."

The American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) passed by the House calls for a 17 percent reduction in emissions by 2020, with a target of an 80 percent reduction by 2050.

But that bill only squeaked through the House by a razor-thin margin in a late June vote, and Republicans and farm state Democrats have sent preliminary signals that some of those requirements may have to be watered down.

Watch the full interview here: