The US Senate delayed the climate change bill another five weeks, preventing a resolution before the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the US to create its own binding climate change laws before the Copenhagen conference begins on December 7, saying US legislation is crucial for a successful international agreement about how to fight global warming. Republican senators are boycotting the debate about the climate change bill because they say the Environmental Protection Agency’s cost estimates are not accurate.