What are the key elements included in the text?
The biggest hurdle is politics—it will be difficult to move the bill forward with elections approaching in November. Opponents of the bill will say that the price on carbon raises taxes. It is easy to call carbon pricing a tax, and to gain political points by opposing all taxes (over 200 members of Congress have signed a pledge to “never” vote for a new broad-based tax). But, if the United States is serious about reducing the deficit and government spending, both new taxes and budget cuts will have to be adopted. In a recent poll, members of the U.S. public were asked which programs they were willing to cut to reduce the deficit. Only one program, foreign aid—which represents less than one percent of the federal budget—was cut by more than 50 percent of respondents. So, if budget cuts are unacceptable, the United States is going to have to face the reality of higher taxes in order to get our fiscal house in order. There are difficult choices ahead. The carbon pricing scheme included in
