The House hikes the ante on climate change bill.

No one ever sold short the ambitions of individual Congressmen. They see opportunities in every crisis. The first draft of the climate change bill casts caution to the wind (excuse the pun).

The cap-and-trade portions of the draft bill are incredibly ambitious, covering 85 percent of the economy's carbon pollution—from electric utilities to oil companies to large industrial sources, leaving out only smaller entities. The legislation would aim to cut U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions 3 percent below 2005 levels by 2012, 20 percent by 2020, and 83 percent by 2050. That's slightly more stringent than what Obama has proposed, though not quite as steep as what the IPCC has called for to avoid drastic climate impacts.