WASHINGTON — With last-minute deals and some old-fashioned political muscle, Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pushing hard to get a comprehensive energy and climate change bill through the House by the end of the week.

To get the bill passed, Pelosi and Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, have made concessions to agriculture, the biofuel industry and oil refineries on emissions controls and rules. That has angered some environmentalists, who say the compromises weaken the bill and it won’t do enough to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

But John Podesta, former White House chief of staff and a confidant of President Barack Obama, tried to rally Democrats and clean-tech advocates by quoting Mick Jagger:

“You can’t always get what you want, but if you try, sometimes you just might find you get what you need,” said Podesta, director of the Center for American Progress. His point: “This landmark bill is revolutionary in its intent and, while imperfect in its means, deserves the support of progressives.”

The 1,200-page bill would set a price on carbon, creating a cap-and-trade system that would restrict emissions from every source, with tighter limits each year. Polluters would buy and trade emissions credits to stay under the cap, establishing a market mechanism that could reach $2 trillion in trading within five years, according to a federal agency.

The goal is to reduce carbon emissions 17 percent by 2020 and more than 80 percent by 2050, compared to 2005 levels.

The bill would also boost renewable-fuel industries, many of which are based in the Bay Area, by requiring the nation’s utilities to generate 20 percent of their power by 2020 from renewable sources and efficiency measures. Another provision would require higher energy efficiency in new buildings.

“This is the most important energy and environmental bill in the history of the United States,” said Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., at a Wednesday rally of unions, businesses, green groups and faith-based groups. Markey and Waxman authored the legislation.

Taking up the bill so quickly — it passed Waxman’s Energy and Commerce Committee last month — is a gamble for Pelosi, who is seeking a vote Friday or Saturday. At least eight Democrats oppose it, fearful that consumers will be hit by higher energy costs.

Pelosi, D-San Francisco, took the unusual step last week of meeting with 11 Republicans who might support the bill.

Obama also spoke forcefully for the bill, and his staff is lobbying hard for it. Obama said at a press conference Tuesday that the bill would “spark a clean-energy transformation that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil and confront the carbon pollution that threatens our planet.”

Republicans have attacked the bill as an energy tax that will hurt average Americans and cripple the economy. “Cap-and-trade is nothing more than a tax which starts accruing the moment you flip on your light switch,” Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, said in a fundraising letter for his party.

Democrats have tried to counter that argument with an estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office that by 2020, the net impact of cap-and-trade on the average household would be $175 a year, and would help poor families because of rebates in the bill.

This week, to win the support of farm-state members, Waxman agreed to let the Department of Agriculture, not the Environmental Protection Agency, administer a program giving farmers credits for conservation measures that keep carbon dioxide in the soil.

That decision, and some other concessions, drew the ire of Frank O’Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch: “It’s painful to learn of the latest negotiations over the climate legislation. Even some strong supporters of the Waxman-Markey legislation are now holding their noses, as if on the perimeter of a hog farm.”

If the bill passes the House, the Senate might take it up — or a similar version — later this year. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who chairs the Environment Committee, has said she would try to move quickly if House passage occurs.

Contact Frank Davies at fdavies@mercurynews.com or 202-662-8921.