A carbon tax is a tax levied on the carbon emissions from producing goods and services. Carbon taxes are intended to make visible the hidden social costs of carbon emissions. They are designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by essentially increasing the price of fossil fuels. This both decreases demand for goods and services that produce high emissions and incentivizes making them less carbon-intensive. When a fossil fuel such as coal, petroleum, or natural gas is burned, most or all of its carbon is converted to CO2. Greenhouse gas emissions cause climate change. This negative externality can be reduced by taxing carbon content at any point in the product cycle.
The United States Chamber of Commerce (USCC) is a business association advocacy group. It is the largest lobbying group in the United States. The group was founded in April 1912 out of local chambers of commerce at the urging of President William Howard Taft and his Secretary of Commerce and Labor Charles Nagel. It was Taft's belief that the "government needed to deal with a group that could speak with authority for the interests of business."
The Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act of 2007 (S. 309) was a bill proposed to amend the 1963 Clean Air Act, a bill that aimed to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2). U.S. Senator, Bernie Sanders (I-VT), introduced the resolution in the 110th United States Congress on January 16, 2007. The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works but was not enacted into law.
Theodore Eliot Deutch is an American lawyer and politician who served as the U.S. representative from Florida's 22nd congressional district from 2010 to 2022. His district, numbered as the 19th district from 2010 to 2013 and as the 21st from 2013 to 2017, included much of northern Broward County and southern Palm Beach County in South Florida. A member of the Democratic Party, he first entered Congress in 2010 after a special election following the resignation of Robert Wexler.
The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES) was an energy bill in the 111th United States Congress that would have established a variant of an emissions trading plan similar to the European Union Emission Trading Scheme. The bill was approved by the House of Representatives on June 26, 2009, by a vote of 219–212. With no prospect of overcoming a threatened Republican filibuster, the bill was never brought to the floor of the Senate for discussion or a vote. The House passage of the bill was the "first time either house of Congress had approved a bill meant to curb the heat-trapping gases scientists have linked to climate change."
A carbon fee and dividend or climate income is a system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address climate change. The system imposes a carbon tax on the sale of fossil fuels, and then distributes the revenue of this tax over the entire population as a monthly income or regular payment.
Cap and dividend is a market-based trading system which retains the original capping method of cap and trade, but also includes compensation for energy consumers. This compensation is to offset the cost of products produced by companies that raise prices to consumers as a result of this policy.
Citizens' Climate Lobby (CCL) is an international grassroots environmental group that trains and supports volunteers to build relationships with their elected representatives in order to influence climate policy. The CCL is a registered 501(c)(4) with approximately $680,000 in revenue in the United States in 2018. Operating since 2007, the goal of CCL is to build political support across party lines to put a price on carbon, specifically a revenue-neutral carbon fee and dividend (CF&D) at the national level. CCL is supported by notable climate scientists James Hansen, Katharine Hayhoe, and Daniel Kammen. CCL's advisory board also includes former Secretary of State George P. Shultz, former US Representative Bob Inglis, actor Don Cheadle, and RESULTS founder Sam Daley-Harris.
The Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act is a series of federal marijuana decriminalization bills that have been introduced multiple times in the United States Congress.
Carlos Luis Curbelo is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for Florida's 26th congressional district from 2015 to 2019. In 2018, he was narrowly defeated for re-election by Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell. He is a member of the Republican Party. Prior to his election to the U.S. House, he served on the Dade County School Board.
Brian Kevin Fitzpatrick is an American politician, attorney, and former FBI agent who has served as a U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania since 2017. His district, which was numbered the 8th district during his first term and the 1st district since 2019, includes all of Bucks County, a mostly suburban county north of Philadelphia, as well as a sliver of Montgomery County.
The Climate Leadership Council is a bipartisan non-profit organization that advocates for a carbon fee and dividends policy that would tax carbon emissions and refund all the money to Americans in payments of approximately $2,000 a year for a family of four. The plan would reduce emissions by 50 percent by 2035, according to an economic model by Resources for the Future.
The Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Reauthorization (AIRR) Act was a bill introduced on February 3, 2016, in the 114th Congress (2015-2016) by Congressman Bill Shuster (R-PA) and Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ). Among other things, the bill would have privatized the American air traffic control (ATC) system. The bill would also have reauthorized the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) through 2019.
The Climate Solutions Caucus is a bipartisan caucus of U.S. legislators supported by the Citizens' Climate Lobby whose members work to achieve action addressing the risks from climate change. The House of Representatives and Senate each have a caucus. The House caucus was founded in February 2016, during the 114th Congress, by Representatives Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) and Ted Deutch (D-FL). The Senate Caucus was founded in 2019 by Senators Mike Braun (R-IN) and Chris Coons (D-DE).
The Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States (STATES) Act was a bill proposed in the 115th United States Congress that would recognize legalization of cannabis and the U.S. state laws that have legalized it through their legislatures or citizen initiative. It was introduced on June 7, 2018, by Senators Cory Gardner and Elizabeth Warren. A companion bill was introduced the same day in the House of Representatives, sponsored by Earl Blumenauer and David Joyce. The act would amend the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 to exempt from federal enforcement individuals or corporations in states who are in compliance with U.S. state, U.S. territory and the District of Columbia, or tribal law on cannabis, with certain additional provisions such as minimum ages. The banking provisions of the STATES Act have been reintroduced as the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act of 2019 in the 116th U.S. Congress by Ed Perlmutter in the House, and by Jeff Merkley in the Senate. As of September 18, 2019, the House bill had 206 cosponsors, and the Senate bill had 33 cosponsors.
John Delaney is a Democrat who served as the U.S. Representative representing Maryland's 6th congressional district from 2013 to 2019. He announced his 2020 campaign for President of the United States on July 28, 2017. He suspended his campaign on January 31, 2020.
The Miners Protection Act is a bill to establish pension and health care benefits to mine workers and has been introduced to Congress 4 times since 2015 but has still not been voted on by the full Senate. The Miners Protection Act would be an amendment to the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act. The act would redirect extraneous funds from the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act to be funneled into miners pensions and health care.
Marshall L. Saunders was an American activist and founder of the Citizens' Climate Lobby. He raised funds and served on the board of a microfinance organization, spoke to thousands about climate change, and lobbied for United States Congress to adopt policies to reduce poverty.
Carbon180 is a nonprofit environmental organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. In 2015, Giana Amador and Noah Deich co-founded the organization at the University of California, Berkeley. Carbon180 advocates for carbon dioxide removal solutions, including, but not limited to, direct air capture (DAC), forest carbon removal, and agricultural soil carbon. Carbon180 engages with lawmakers, academic and science-based institutions, and businesses to fund and deploy carbon removal technologies and methods.
The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act of 2023 is a bill in the United States House of Representatives that proposes a fee on carbon at the point of extraction to encourage market-driven innovation of clean energy technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The fees are recycled to citizens in monthly dividends. Most recently on September 27, 2023, the bill was reintroduced in the 118th Congress as H. R. 5744, the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act of 2023. The act was originally introduced in 2018 with bipartisan support from six co-sponsors and died when the 115th congress ended on 3 January 2019. It is principally based on Citizens' Climate Lobby's carbon fee and dividend proposal, and this organization advocates for the bill.
