Exclusive: Bipartisan House Group Revives Carbon Tax Bill

by Axios | 1.24.19

A bipartisan handful of House members are introducing carbon tax legislation today after first floating it late last year.

Why it matters: While it’s very unlikely to become law in at least the next few years, it’s nonetheless a marker for efforts to move national carbon pricing beyond the think tank and advocacy world where it’s been for a decade and back into Congress.

The details: Florida Democrat Ted Deutch unveiled the bill with a few other Democrats and one Republican. The bill would impose an initial $15-per-ton carbon "fee" on fossil fuel producers, processors and importers that rises $10 annually.

• All the revenues are returned to the public.
• The plan would remove some but not all greenhouse gas regulations.
• Rep. Francis Rooney (R.-Fla.), is the only Republican co-sponsor as of now. GOP Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania had signed onto last year’s bill, but he isn’t (yet anyway) a co-sponsor of this bill. A request for comment to his office wasn't immediately returned.

The big picture: After a near decade’s absence in Washington, debate over big climate and energy policies are emerging in Washington as Democrats take control of the House and the presidential campaign heats up.

• Bipartisan efforts are emerging on a carbon tax, while progressive Democrats are rallying around the vague-but-popular Green New Deal, that calls for 100% renewable electricity within a decade and several other big policies aimed at transforming the economy while cutting emissions. (It could include a price on carbon, but that isn't its central component.)

Go deeper:

• The anatomy of climate-change policy: A primer
• Hopeless carbon tax bill that’s still worth watching
• Democrats’ left turn on climate change

—Amy Harder, Ben Geman

Illustration: Rebecca Zisser/Axios