During his campaign, Obama promised to help fish and wildlife survive the impacts of climate change with billions of dollars in funding.

The billion dollar promise was based on a piece of failed legislation called the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 -- also known as the cap and trade bill.

This bill would have done just what the name suggests, cap greenhouse gas emissions and then allow groups to buy and sell emissions permits. The goal was to use a market-based mechanism to lower overall emissions by gradually reducing the cap.

The bill included a financing component that would have distributed funding to various climate change programs.

While Obama pushed for the inclusion of  a Natural Resources Climate Change Adaptation Fund in the climate change legislation, never passed.

But Obama has included funding in his yearly budgets that aims to accomplish similar goals, and yearly budgets show that climate change funding has increased during this administration.

Most recently, the 2012 budget provides $2.6 billion to the multi-agency U.S. Global Change Research Program which is a 5.6 percent increase from last year.

The administration has also invested $320 million in programs under the U.S. Interior Department to address climate change.

We spoke with Taryn Tuss, communications director at the White House Council on Environmental Quality who said these programs focus on creating "climate change adaptation strategies, improving climate-related science and monitoring of natural resources, and conserving and restoring vital landscapes."  

In addition, she pointed us to a government-wide initiative to "incorporate adaptation into agency planning and risk assessment, with the goal of protecting infrastructure and other taxpayer investments, natural resources, and public health."

The only realistic way for Obama to secure billions for fish and game would have been through the passage of the cap and trade bill. While cap and trade didn't pass, the administration has supported the goals initially outlined in the promise by supporting agencies that run climate change programs. We rate this a Compromise.