As US president Barack Obama gathered with world leaders in Paris to work out a global climate deal .. Republicans in the US Congress voted to block Obama’s plan to force cuts in power plant emissions.

The people that are going to be hit the hardest are lower income families.

The House blocked two resolutions rendering the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) measures inoperative.

“When you look at the impact, this proposal by President Obama`s EPA would have a 29 billion (US) dollars per year cost on middle class families,” said Steve Scalise, GOP Whip and Republican representative for Louisiana. “The people that are going to be hit the hardest are lower income families.”

The measures will now go to the White House where they will almost certainly be vetoed when they reach Obama’s desk.

The goal at the Paris summit known as COP21 is to reach a deal within two weeks on reducing global warming to 2 degrees celcius.