Bush Faces Opposition to Views on Global Warming
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush today fulfilled a key campaign promise with the stroke of a pen but, as he signed into law the compromise tax-cut bill, White House officials were reviewing the fine print in another batch of papers dealing with the controversial topic of global warming. CNN senior White House correspondent John King joins us now. Hi John.</s>JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon to you, Leon. A celebration here for the president today. Somewhat bittersweet because of the changing political dynamic in the U.S. Senate. But the president choosing to focus on the positive. As you noted, the central promise of his campaign for the presidency was a major sweeping across-the-board tax cut. And with the stroke of those pens there -- they're souvenirs for the member of the Congress on hand -- the president signed into law that 11-year, $1.35 trillion tax cut. Now, as he did so, the president looking ahead a little bit, talking about -- he hopes for more bipartisanship in the future. But also looking back, remembering that during the campaign even many Republicans told him he was crazy if he thought he would get sweeping tax cuts through the U.S. Congress.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A year ago, tax relief was said to be a political impossibility. Six months ago, it was supposed to be a political liability. Today it becomes reality. It becomes reality because of the bipartisan leadership of the members of the United States Congress.</s>KING: Now, this is a very complicate the measure. Some of the complications forced by the compromises the president had to stroke -- strike with members of Congress to get this bill through the Congress. Let's take a look. It is, of course, the first major Congress -- first major tax cut -- excuse me -- to clear the Congress in 20 years. It reduces the lowest rate from 15 percent to 10 percent, and reduces the highest rate from 39.6 percent to 35 percent. It will, over time -- much of these tax cut are phased in -- it will, over time, double the child tax credit from $500 to $1,000. It reduces the tax penalty on married couples. And also, over time, repeals the estate tax. Now, what about immediate relief? Ninety-five million refund checks will start going out in the mail, hopefully on July 20, the Treasury says. If you are a single taxpayer with no children, you'll get a check for $300. A single parent will receive $500 in a rebate check. And married couples receive $600. Now, where from here is the president's concerned now. He will have dinner with the new Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle tonight. Many wondering whether this, his first major legislative victory, will be his last, given the change of power in the U.S. Senate. But the president having many Democrats on hand today -- not the leadership, but those who supported the tax cut, voicing the opinion that he hopes to work with Democrats in the future as he seeks more victories in the Congress -- Leon.</s>HARRIS: John, on to another topic of concern at the White House. Are we seeing a retrenching here in the White House policy on global warming?</s>KING: Well, A reassessment, maybe, not necessarily a retrenching. Remember, during the campaign then-governor Bush said he would not support the Kyoto Treaty on global warming. Even though he said that as a candidate, Japan is angry. Many European allies are angry. And the president, of course, traveling his first trip to Europe next week. So the administration now reviewing a new report by the National Academy of Sciences. That report says that there is, indeed, global warming; a raising of temperatures around the world. And the report makes a strong link -- it doesn't say it's conclusive -- but makes a strong link that so-called greenhouse gases are responsible. The administration says the president is still not prepared to sign on to the Kyoto Treaty, but he is looking for new ways, and will talk to the allies about some early ideas -- perhaps a voluntary system in which industries are given incentives -- tax incentives and others incentives and other incentives if they reduce the emissions of those greenhouse gasses. This, an issue on which the president has been criticized by the environmental community here at home, by many key allies abroad. The administration saying the president wants to discuss it with the European allies, but that he has no detailed plan just yet.</s>HARRIS: All right, thanks much, John King at the White House -- Donna.</s>DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: And now for details on that global warming report, we turn to CNN environmental correspondent Natalie Pawelski. Natalie, what does the report say? Do they say that global warming is real, or not?</s>NATALIE PAWELSKI, CNN ENVIRONMENTAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they do. And the thing is, this was a report that was requested by the White House. And in that report, the National Academy of Sciences panel says, yes, there are some questions remaining, but the bottom line is this: temperatures are rising, and people are at least partly to blame. That's nothing new. Most scientists have been saying that for years. But this latest report represents one more piece in a mounting pile of scientific evidence -- scientific literature that says global warming is real. The report says, quote: "Greenhouse gases are accumulating in earth's atmosphere as a result of human activities, causing surface air temperatures and subsurface ocean temperatures to rise." The report stops short of endorsing the United Nations intergovernmental panels on climate changes most alarming recent estimate: a rise of 10 degrees Fahrenheit over the next century. But even taking a middle-of-the road scenario -- warming of about 5 1/2 degrees over the next century -- the scientists said rising temperatures could mean changing weather patterns, shifting crop ranges and ecosystem, and rising oceans. Now, the report stops short of making any specific policy recommendations. But the researchers do say, quote, "National policy decisions made now, and in the longer-term future, will influence the extent of any damage suffered by vulnerable human populations and ecosystems later in this century." The National Academy of Sciences panel included one of the most prominent skeptics of global warming's potential harm, Richard Lindzen of MIT. And the researchers said, while there's scientific consensus that global warming is real and is serious, there are a lot of uncertainties because of factors like natural climate variability, and the difficulty of using computer models to mimic what happens in the real world. But the report went on to say that, quote, "Despite the uncertainties, there is general agreement that the observed warming is real, and particularly strong within the past 20 years." And the researchers called for more study, and for a global climate observing system -- a way to sort of coordinate the international observations on climate change.</s>KELLEY: So if the report's been requested by the Bush administration, what are they going to do with that? What's the proposal, then? I know he's going to Europe, and he has a lot of meeting about global warming in Europe.</s>PAWELSKI: Well, the smart money is on voluntary solutions. Nobody believes that the president is going to look at this and then jump onto a drastic proposal, from his point of view, like the Kyoto accords. It's expected that the White House will take a look at this, say yes, we believe that global warming is serious, but we still aren't quite sure of exactly how we should tackle it.</s>KELLEY: You know, I was seeing, too, in some of the research, the bread basket in the United States could be hit very hard by this.</s>PAWELSKI: That was one of the things that this panel pointed out. One of the things that global warming could mean is shifting bands of temperature. And there's some thought that you could get almost a drought area, a permanent drought, a sort of dust bowl in the bread basket in the American plains. And that, of course, would be a real concern.</s>KELLEY: What are the skeptics still saying? You said one of the skeptics is on this panel; what are they still saying? Do they agree completely, or are they still skeptical in some areas?</s>PAWELSKI: Most of the respected skeptics will say, yes, global warming is happening, and we think that there's a human component to it. What they might disagree with is the degree to which the temperature might change, the degree to which the oceans might rise; the degree to which we've got to change how we live in order to do anything about it.</s>KELLEY: OK, Natalie Pawelski, our environment correspondent, thanks very much.