The catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has given new momentum to climate change legislation, but capping carbon emissions still faces a difficult road ahead in the Senate.

President Barack Obama pointed to the "inherent risks to drilling four miles beneath the surface of the Earth" as a reason to "aggressively accelerate" the nation's transition "to a clean energy economy." The only way to do this, he said, is "putting a price on carbon pollution" so that "capital comes off the sidelines and the ingenuity of our entrepreneurs is unleashed."

The president endorsed legislation sponsored by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., that takes a sector-by-sector approach to cutting carbon emissions.

The bill would set a floor and ceiling for the price of carbon, and establish a system for selling and trading carbon permits among electric utilities, large manufacturers and other major emitters of greenhouse gases. Consumers would receive rebates to soften the impact of higher energy prices.

The legislation also would increase government investment in renewable energy sources, while providing incentives for nuclear power and clean coal technologies.

In a bid to win support from Republicans and moderate Democrats, it included incentives for offshore drilling, but the Gulf oil spill has mucked up that strategy.

Obama, however, has used the oil spill to make the case for the bill, even as he has suspended deepwater drilling.

"The votes may not be there right now, but I intend to find them in the coming months," Obama said. "We will get it done."

This "explicit commitment" from the president pleased Kerry and Lieberman.

"President Obama is clearly putting his shoulder to the wheel to pass comprehensive climate and energy legislation this year," the two senators said in a joint statement.

A day after Obama's comments, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced plans to bring "a comprehensive clean energy bill" to the floor in July. Like Obama, Reid cited the Gulf oil spill as a reason for prompt action.

"We must move much more quickly to kick the oil habit as soon as possible, and push harder for the production of affordable alternative fuels and advanced vehicles," Reid wrote in a letter to eight committee chairmen.

Reid asked the chairmen to submit recommendations by July 4 on what should be included in the bill to reduce the risk of future oil spills and make sure oil companies are held fully accountable if they do occur.

The House already has passed legislation that would increase the tax that oil companies pay into the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund from 8 cents per barrel to 34 cents per barrel.

Obama, meanwhile, renewed his call for "rolling back billions of dollars of tax breaks to oil companies so we can prioritize investments in clean energy research and development."

The Independent Petroleum Association of America contends that increasing taxes on oil companies would hit small producers as well as giants such as BP. IPAA President and CEO Barry Russell said it "will kill jobs at a time when they're most needed, and compromise our long-term energy security."

While the bill that emerges from Reid's talks with committee chairmen is likely to address the BP oil spill, it's not clear whether it will include the Kerry-Lieberman bill's cap on carbon emissions. There may not be enough votes to get that past procedural hurdles in the Senate. Instead, the bill may look more like legislation passed by the Senate Energy Committee last year, which provides new financing mechanisms for clean energy technologies and requires utilities to generate 15 percent of their electricity through renewable sources.

If Congress doesn't regulate carbon emissions, the Environmental Protection Agency says it will. Republicans were expected to lose a June 10 vote in the Senate on a resolution that would block the EPA from using the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gases. That decision should be made by Congress, not EPA, Republicans contend. Even if the resolution passed the Senate, it would face an uphill battle in the House and a certain veto by Obama.

"From a small business perspective, the looming costs and damage from this EPA overreach promises to be severe," said Karen Kerrigan, president and CEO of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council. "Every sector of the economy would come under the EPA's bureaucratic control."