The chairman of the Senate Environment Committee is predicting the Senate could pass new global warming restrictions before the end of the year.
    
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who is co-sponsoring the legislation, wants the plan passed before international talks on global warming take place in Copenhagen in early December. 

"I believe we will get this bill out of my committee soon," Boxer told reporters after meeting U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. "Certainly before Copenhagen, and we're hoping maybe to even have it on the floor (of the Senate)."

Supporters are trying to limit the greenhouse gases that they say cause global warming.
    
However, opponents say it would hurt American businesses and undermine the economy.
    
The House narrowly passed a similar climate-change bill in June.