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The popular president, who stopped short of guaranteeing passage, said as he met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that the debate showed that the United States was reasserting its role after letting Europe lead for years.
"The United States, over the last several years, has not been where we need to be. We're not going to get there all in one fell swoop, but I'm very proud of the progress that's being made," he told Merkel at the White House.
Obama, who spearheaded an 11th-hour hunt for "yes" votes, implicitly acknowledged worries that the bill would hamstring the US economy and send jobs fleeing to China and India, rising economies that are also major polluters.
"We're going to have to work with the emerging economies, which have enormous potential for growth but unfortunately also have enormous potential for contributing to greenhouse gases, so that their obligations are clear," he said.
Supporters of the measure predicted a razor-thin victory -- 218 votes were needed to ensure passage -- and won a critical early procedural vote by a 217-205 with about 30 Democratic defections.
"We'll have the 218 votes," Democratic House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told AFP in a telephone interview. "We expect that we will have the number of votes to pass the bill."
Asked whether the White House was confident of passage, press secretary Robert Gibbs replied: "Yes."
Supporters of the measure, which would create a "cap-and-trade" system to curb emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, have said action is critical to success at December global climate change talks in Copenhagen.
"Today, hopefully, we'll have a celebration of American leadership taking its rightful place," Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said cautiously as she welcomed Merkel for talks at the Capitol.
The House's "American Clean Energy and Security Act" aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020, while creating "green" jobs and boosting high-tech environmentally friendly innovation.
The 1,200-page bill, the fruit of months of tough negotiations, would create a "cap-and-trade" system limiting overall pollution from large industrial sources and then allocating and selling pollution permits.
The Democratic-crafted bill would require utilities, by 2020, to get 15 percent of their electricity from renewable resources -- solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass -- and show annual energy savings of five percent from efficiency measures.
The European Union plan calls for getting 20 percent of all electricity from renewable resources by 2020.
Critics of the bill, chiefly Republicans, charged in an often heated debate that the legislation would send energy costs skyrocketing and kill jobs in the midst of an already painful recession.
"India and China will not shatter their own economies with this sort of scheme, and its nonsensical for America to impose a job killer like this on ourselves," said the number two House Republican, Representative Eric Cantor.
The bill "is the equivalent to a light switch tax -- if this bill becomes law Americans will pay higher taxes every time we turn on our lights," warned Republican Representative John Culberson of Texas.
Former vice president turned climate change campaigner Al Gore and most environmental groups favored the plan, but Greenpeace USA urged its defeat in a statement late Thursday that argued it had been overly diluted to win votes.
House passage would be just the first step, with the Senate not expected to put forth a complete draft bill of its own until mid-September, launching what could be a months-long process to send Obama final legislation.
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"The United States, over the last several years, has not been where we need to be. We're not going to get there all in one fell swoop, but I'm very proud of the progress that's being made," he told Merkel at the White House.
Obama, who spearheaded an 11th-hour hunt for "yes" votes, implicitly acknowledged worries that the bill would hamstring the US economy and send jobs fleeing to China and India, rising economies that are also major polluters.
"We're going to have to work with the emerging economies, which have enormous potential for growth but unfortunately also have enormous potential for contributing to greenhouse gases, so that their obligations are clear," he said.
Supporters of the measure predicted a razor-thin victory -- 218 votes were needed to ensure passage -- and won a critical early procedural vote by a 217-205 with about 30 Democratic defections.
"We'll have the 218 votes," Democratic House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told AFP in a telephone interview. "We expect that we will have the number of votes to pass the bill."
Asked whether the White House was confident of passage, press secretary Robert Gibbs replied: "Yes."
Supporters of the measure, which would create a "cap-and-trade" system to curb emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, have said action is critical to success at December global climate change talks in Copenhagen.
"Today, hopefully, we'll have a celebration of American leadership taking its rightful place," Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said cautiously as she welcomed Merkel for talks at the Capitol.
The House's "American Clean Energy and Security Act" aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020, while creating "green" jobs and boosting high-tech environmentally friendly innovation.
The 1,200-page bill, the fruit of months of tough negotiations, would create a "cap-and-trade" system limiting overall pollution from large industrial sources and then allocating and selling pollution permits.
The Democratic-crafted bill would require utilities, by 2020, to get 15 percent of their electricity from renewable resources -- solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass -- and show annual energy savings of five percent from efficiency measures.
The European Union plan calls for getting 20 percent of all electricity from renewable resources by 2020.
Critics of the bill, chiefly Republicans, charged in an often heated debate that the legislation would send energy costs skyrocketing and kill jobs in the midst of an already painful recession.
"India and China will not shatter their own economies with this sort of scheme, and its nonsensical for America to impose a job killer like this on ourselves," said the number two House Republican, Representative Eric Cantor.
The bill "is the equivalent to a light switch tax -- if this bill becomes law Americans will pay higher taxes every time we turn on our lights," warned Republican Representative John Culberson of Texas.
Former vice president turned climate change campaigner Al Gore and most environmental groups favored the plan, but Greenpeace USA urged its defeat in a statement late Thursday that argued it had been overly diluted to win votes.
House passage would be just the first step, with the Senate not expected to put forth a complete draft bill of its own until mid-September, launching what could be a months-long process to send Obama final legislation.
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