Just two weeks after the House passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act, the Senate is preparing to build on their victory with a broad base of bipartisan support.

A series of hearings and meetings scheduled for this week is aimed at yielding legislation comparable to the so-called Waxman-Markey bill before the Sept. 18 deadline imposed by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on all committees. So far, progress has been swift.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, expressed confidence that his colleagues will answer the call for a clean energy economy: "we can enact a system which will not unduly burden anyone, but will put us on a track to reducing greenhouse gas emissions over the next seven decades."

Conservation experts echo the belief that the Senate will be able to finish the job the House started.

“The Senate comes back from the 4^th of July recess gearing up to fight for energy independence,” said Joseph Mendelson, director of global warming policy at the National Wildlife Federation. "They're going to take action before the leaves change."