During President Barack Obama’s White House Press conference yesterday the focus was mostly on Iran and health care reform, but he also commented on the House climate energy bill.

The bill written by Democratic Representatives Henry Waxman of California and Edward Markey of Massachusetts is scheduled for a House floor debate and vote on Friday.

President Obama fully endorsed the bill called it “extraordinarily important.” He urged members of the House to pass the bill and said it would make the U.S. a global leader in clean energy technology.

The bill includes a cap-and-trade system for green house gas pollutants and funds new clean energy projects such as geothermal, solar and wind.

It is unclear if the vote is likely to pass since there is nearly no Republican support and some wavering from moderate Democrats from farm states.

For more a simple break down of what’s in the bill go to Grist and for the latest information about what is happening on Capitol Hill check out Politico.

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Will consumers make healthier beverage choices if the cost of soda increases?

A new federal tax on soda and other sugary beverages has been suggested recently as a way to pay for part of the major overhaul of the U.S. health-care system proposed by the Obama administration.

According to the Wall Street Journal, "The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington-based watchdog group that pressures food companies to make healthier products, plans to propose a federal excise tax on soda, certain fruit drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks and ready-to-drink teas. It would not include most diet beverages."

Supporters argue that the tax would have multiple benefits. In addition to partially funding health-care reform, supporters argue that a tax on sugary beverages would likely discourage their consumption, potentially relieving some of the burden on taxpayers covering the medical costs incurred because of overweight and obesity.

Addressing these issues, a recent article from the New England Journal of Medicine reports, "For each extra can or glass of sugared beverage consumed per day, the likelihood of a child’s becoming obese increases by 60 percent," and that "a review conducted by Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity suggested that for every 10 percent increase in price, consumption decreases by 7.8 percent."

Finally, the article states that "The contribution of unhealthful diets to health care costs is already high and is increasing — an estimated $79 billion is spent annually for overweight and obesity alone — and approximately half of these costs are paid by Medicare and Medicaid, at taxpayers’ expense. Diet-related diseases also cost society in terms of decreased work productivity, increased absenteeism, poorer school performance, and reduced fitness on the part of military recruits, among other negative effects."

The same Wall Street Journal article notes that "The main beverage lobby that represents Coca-Cola Co., PepsiCo Inc., Kraft Foods Inc. and other companies said such a tax would unfairly hit lower-income Americans and wouldn't deter consumption.

'Taxes are not going to teach our children how to have a healthy lifestyle,' said Susan Neely, president of the American Beverage Association. Instead, the association says it's backing programs that limit sugary beverage consumption in schools."

What do you think of a tax on sugary beverages? Would you support it?

President-elect Barack Obama traveled to Capitol Hill Monday to gauge congressional support of his proposed $775 billion economic stimulus package. He met with Senate and House leaders from both sides of the aisle.

The stimulus plan includes billions in tax cuts for workers and businesses and billions in tax incentives for job creation.

The president-elect urged Congress to pass the stimulus plan within one month.

The Environmental Law and Policy Center (ELPC) is asking its supporters to mail their Senators and Representatives a letter requesting that the stimulus plan invest in green jobs.

The ELPC has a sample letter for supporters to copy and mail. The letter says, “As my representative, I ask you keep the stimulus clean by investing in public transit, passenger rail and smart growth solutions ...”

The letter encourages Congress to invest in green transportation rather than new roads, creating new jobs while ending the country’s dependence on oil. Of the $775 billion package, more than $100 billion is tax incentives for businesses with job creation. The ELPC is asking that those new jobs be green.

Visit the House and Senate websites to find the addresses of your Representative and Senators and tell them what you think about the proposed stimulus package.

On Dec. 15, President-elect Barack Obama announced his energy and environment team at a news conference in Chicago. Obama chose Carol Browner, former head of the Environmental Protection Agency, as head of a new policy council for climate, environment and energy issues. The rest of the team consists of Steven Chu, a Noble-prize winning physicist, as his energy secretary; Lisa Jackson, former head of New Jersey’s environmental protection department, as national EPA head; and Nancy Sutley, deputy mayor of Los Angeles, as head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

With the team in place, Obama is ready to start creating a new energy economy. He admitted that he didn’t know when the economy would start getting better, but he did say, “We know that we’re going to create jobs that wouldn’t otherwise be created.” According to Obama, those jobs should eventually add up to 2.5 million.

While Obama plans to make the United States a leader in climate change, he admits, “The solution to global climate change must be global.” The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland just finished on Dec. 13, claiming that there is “a clear commitment from governments to shift into full negotiating mode.” Hopefully, they’re right.

To learn more about Barack Obama’s energy and environmental policy watch the video below, or check out these articles:

Environmentalists Help Obama Create New Green Economy

Obama Addresses Fight Against Climate Change

Obama's Changing Climate Change

The recent announcements of President-elect Barack Obama’s new energy policy team provides opportunities for citizens to voice their support for renewable energy before the team even enters the White House in January.

The Apollo Alliance wasted little time after Obama announced who would fill his energy cabinet positions.

Phil Angelides, chairman of the Apollo Alliance, urged people to show their support for the Apollo Economic Recovery Act by contacting Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change, Carol Browner.

“We’ve got to make sure Browner knows thousands of people are counting on her to prevail over Big Oil’s powerful lobby,” Angelides said in an e-mail. “So in the coming days, we’ll flood her office with a chorus of supportive voices pushing for clean energy and good jobs.”

The Apollo Alliance proposed The Apollo Economic Recovery Act earlier this month. It is an economic recovery plan that encourages government to invest in green technology to create 650,000 green-collar jobs across the country. The stimulus plan costs $50 billion and aims to end the nation’s reliance on foreign oil by improving energy efficiency of building, increasing clean energy tax credits, expanding home weatherization programs, modernizing the transmission grid, increasing investments in rapid transit and repairing roads and bridges.

The Act has similarities to proposals made by Obama and the new members of his energy team.

For more information on the appointment of Carol Browner read The New York Times article about her and her new position created by Obama.