A resolution being considered on the House floor to show lawmakers don’t want a carbon tax is actually the first step toward passing such a measure, a Colorado lawmaker argued Wednesday.
Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., said the measure, which would express the belief that a carbon tax would be detrimental to the country’s economy, excited him.
Polis, who ran for Congress supporting a carbon tax, said the point of the vote was to get lawmakers on the record as being against a carbon tax to use it against them if a carbon tax bill was proposed in the future.
“You don’t see these kind of resolutions unless an idea has momentum,” Polis said.
A carbon tax is a tax on fossil fuels that aims to reduce carbon emissions, which many scientists believe is causing climate change. Critics say the goal of a carbon tax is to discourage the use of fossil fuels and tip the market in favor of renewable energy companies.
House Republicans this week are putting forth two resolutions that would strike at President Obama’s environmental agenda. One is the anti-carbon tax resolution and the other expresses antipathy toward Obama’s proposed $10.25-per-barrel tax on crude oil.
Polis applauded Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., for putting the resolution about the carbon tax forward because he said having a debate about a carbon tax on the House floor was a major step.
“This is the first sign of momentum this bill has,” Polis said.
“I couldn’t be more excited that a discussion around a national carbon tax has now become a serious one, a bipartisan one, an inevitable one, one that we will see through with the next president of the United States.”
Polis listed a litany of free-market groups who have come out in support of a carbon tax and said he believed the resolution was the first step toward the country eventually having one.
“The carbon tax cut presents us with the opportunity for pro-growth economic policies that make American more competitive and let Americans keep more of their hard-earned money,” he said.
