A bill to stop the Environmental Protection Agency's greenhouse gas rules passed a first step in the Republican-led House of Representatives on Thursday.

The House Energy and Commerce subcommittee passed the bill by voice vote that would block the EPA from regulating big carbon dioxide polluters such as oil refineries and power plants. The measure will next be sent to the full House Energy and Commerce Committee.

It faces an uphill battle as officials in the Obama administration have said the president would veto the measure.

Fred Upton, the chairman of the committee and the bill's sponsor, said the EPA rules would raise gasoline prices by adding costs to refineries that they would pass to consumers.