Washington (Platts)--8May2007

The two leading 2008 Democratic presidential hopefuls, Barack Obama and
Hillary Clinton, on Tuesday joined other US senators in cosponsoring S. 309,
the strictest climate change bill introduced to date, they said.

     The bill, authored by Senate Environment and Public Works Committee
Chairman Barbara Boxer, Democrat-California, and Senator Bernie Sanders,
Independent-Vermont, requires that the US reduce its emissions by 2050 to a
level that is 80% below 1990 levels.

     The Sanders-Boxer bill also attracted support from Senator Joseph Biden,
Democrat-Delaware, another probable presidential candidate. 

     Clinton and Obama earlier in 2007 cosponsored climate change legislation
offered by Senators Joseph Lieberman, Independent-Connecticut, and John
McCain, Republican-Arizona, who is also running for president. That bill seeks
to cut greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors by 60% by 2050.

     Maryland Democrats Barbara Mikulski and Benjamin Cardin also signed on to
the Sanders-Boxer bill, bringing the total of cosponsors to 17.