The American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) is primed for a House floor vote by the end of the week. Congressional momentum on the vital bill comes in the wake of a landmark inter-agency report on global warming and its immediate and future consequences.

The legislation, which was recently approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, will establish a new energy policy in the United States that avoids continuing dependence on foreign oil and establishes a new domestic clean technology manufacturing base to supply wind, solar, and other renewable energy.

The necessity of the bill was highlighted last week, when the U.S. Global Change Research Program released a sweeping analysis of the impacts already happening due to unchecked global warming. Among them: increased downpours, hotter temperatures, and rising sea levels.

According to Larry Schweiger, president and CEO of National Wildlife Federation, the findings act as a broad call to arms for concerned citizens and legislators.

"If we had an enemy threatening public health, damaging our water supplies, limiting our water and food supplies, and wreaking havoc on our coastal communities, there is no question we would demand our very best effort to fight back this enemy," Schweiger said. "Like Paul Revere, this report is shouting that the enemy is at our doorstep. The enemy is climate change."

NOAA head Jane Lubchenco called the report "a game-changer" for its confirmation that the effects of global warming are neither minor nor remote. White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director John Holdren echoed the need for immediate action, adding "one has to hope it will influence how people think about particular legislative proposals."

The National Wildlife Federation's just-released ACES Toolbox analyzes the bill in terms of what is needed to build the clean energy economy and confront the climate crisis.