Climate change bill faces US Senate test

WASHINGTON: A key US Senate committee forges ahead Tuesday with sweeping climate changelegislation, as its backers nervously watch time run short before December's make-or-break global summit in Denmark.

President Barack Obama's Democratic allies have split on the issue, with some worried about the possible impact on home-state industries, while his Republican foes have mostly united against the White House-backed approach.

With uncertainty clouding the legislation's fate, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will open its critical debate on the plan at 9:00 am (1400 GMT) after last-ditch efforts to avert a threatened Republican boycott.

Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer, who chairs the committee, said late Monday she was holding out an olive branch to Republican colleagues who say they are unsatisfied with the Environmental ProtectionAgency analysis of the bill.

"We really hope they will return to the table," said Boxer, who added she might take steps to move forward with or without Republicans but underlined that "we're going to be very, very patient."

Boxer said she would invite EPA officials to appear and take any questions after the agency based its assessment on largely similar legislation that cleared the House of Representatives in June.