A Sneaky Effort to Undermine the Fight Against Carbon Taxes
Is this competence or optics?
President Donald Trump has shown bold leadership by rejecting the radical global climate agenda. But now some lawmakers, including a handful of Republicans, have set out on a path that, if followed, will undermine the president’s accomplishments.
Those accomplishments have been substantial. The president has withdrawn the U.S. from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and helped dismantle the Inflation Reduction Act’s Green New Deal subsidies. Also, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under his watch rescinded the endangerment finding that made it possible for the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
The Trump administration has also made it clear that any nation supporting the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization’s global carbon tax on shipping will face severe penalties. In a press release, the administration didn’t mince words, stating, “The United States will be moving to levy these remedies against nations that sponsor this European-led neocolonial export of global climate regulations.”
Congress shouldn’t undercut these successes, but that’s exactly what has happened. Buried within a House report that accompanied the enacted energy and water development spending bill is language that enables the radical global climate agenda.
The language directs the Department of Energy to study the carbon intensity of domestic and foreign goods. The goods must include all items subject to the European Union’s (EU) carbon border tax, which the EU calls a carbon border adjustment mechanism.
While technically not law, agencies tend to comply with such report language. This language would help establish the framework necessary for the U.S. to impose our own carbon border tax and eventually even a domestic carbon tax.
Last Congress, this type of measuring scheme was introduced in legislation called the PROVE IT Act. Conservatives joined together in huge numbers to fight and eventually kill off this legislation. After proponents of the PROVE IT Act didn’t get what they wanted in a transparent, straightforward manner, they sneakily included language in a report that most lawmakers likely didn’t even know existed.
Senator Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., has stated the report language was his “legislation” and bragged how he kept the report language a secret for a long time and, reportedly, never mentioned it to the White House or Department of Energy. But undermining the Trump administration’s fight against the global climate agenda in an underhanded way shouldn’t be a bragging point. We should be fighting the EU and carbon border taxes, not caving to EU political pressure.
The arguments for a carbon intensity measuring scheme seem to be constantly changing. One recent claim is that measuring the carbon intensity of goods would help ensure EU numbers are accurate. Why don’t we instead just ensure Americans are not taxed by the EU in the first place? Cramer claims that his carbon measuring scheme would fit into Trump’s America First trade doctrine. But in fact it puts the EU and the global climate agenda first.
The Trump administration made it clear the U.S. wouldn’t tolerate a global carbon tax when it comes …
Is this competence or optics?
President Donald Trump has shown bold leadership by rejecting the radical global climate agenda. But now some lawmakers, including a handful of Republicans, have set out on a path that, if followed, will undermine the president’s accomplishments.
Those accomplishments have been substantial. The president has withdrawn the U.S. from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and helped dismantle the Inflation Reduction Act’s Green New Deal subsidies. Also, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under his watch rescinded the endangerment finding that made it possible for the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
The Trump administration has also made it clear that any nation supporting the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization’s global carbon tax on shipping will face severe penalties. In a press release, the administration didn’t mince words, stating, “The United States will be moving to levy these remedies against nations that sponsor this European-led neocolonial export of global climate regulations.”
Congress shouldn’t undercut these successes, but that’s exactly what has happened. Buried within a House report that accompanied the enacted energy and water development spending bill is language that enables the radical global climate agenda.
The language directs the Department of Energy to study the carbon intensity of domestic and foreign goods. The goods must include all items subject to the European Union’s (EU) carbon border tax, which the EU calls a carbon border adjustment mechanism.
While technically not law, agencies tend to comply with such report language. This language would help establish the framework necessary for the U.S. to impose our own carbon border tax and eventually even a domestic carbon tax.
Last Congress, this type of measuring scheme was introduced in legislation called the PROVE IT Act. Conservatives joined together in huge numbers to fight and eventually kill off this legislation. After proponents of the PROVE IT Act didn’t get what they wanted in a transparent, straightforward manner, they sneakily included language in a report that most lawmakers likely didn’t even know existed.
Senator Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., has stated the report language was his “legislation” and bragged how he kept the report language a secret for a long time and, reportedly, never mentioned it to the White House or Department of Energy. But undermining the Trump administration’s fight against the global climate agenda in an underhanded way shouldn’t be a bragging point. We should be fighting the EU and carbon border taxes, not caving to EU political pressure.
The arguments for a carbon intensity measuring scheme seem to be constantly changing. One recent claim is that measuring the carbon intensity of goods would help ensure EU numbers are accurate. Why don’t we instead just ensure Americans are not taxed by the EU in the first place? Cramer claims that his carbon measuring scheme would fit into Trump’s America First trade doctrine. But in fact it puts the EU and the global climate agenda first.
The Trump administration made it clear the U.S. wouldn’t tolerate a global carbon tax when it comes …
A Sneaky Effort to Undermine the Fight Against Carbon Taxes
Is this competence or optics?
President Donald Trump has shown bold leadership by rejecting the radical global climate agenda. But now some lawmakers, including a handful of Republicans, have set out on a path that, if followed, will undermine the president’s accomplishments.
Those accomplishments have been substantial. The president has withdrawn the U.S. from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and helped dismantle the Inflation Reduction Act’s Green New Deal subsidies. Also, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under his watch rescinded the endangerment finding that made it possible for the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
The Trump administration has also made it clear that any nation supporting the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization’s global carbon tax on shipping will face severe penalties. In a press release, the administration didn’t mince words, stating, “The United States will be moving to levy these remedies against nations that sponsor this European-led neocolonial export of global climate regulations.”
Congress shouldn’t undercut these successes, but that’s exactly what has happened. Buried within a House report that accompanied the enacted energy and water development spending bill is language that enables the radical global climate agenda.
The language directs the Department of Energy to study the carbon intensity of domestic and foreign goods. The goods must include all items subject to the European Union’s (EU) carbon border tax, which the EU calls a carbon border adjustment mechanism.
While technically not law, agencies tend to comply with such report language. This language would help establish the framework necessary for the U.S. to impose our own carbon border tax and eventually even a domestic carbon tax.
Last Congress, this type of measuring scheme was introduced in legislation called the PROVE IT Act. Conservatives joined together in huge numbers to fight and eventually kill off this legislation. After proponents of the PROVE IT Act didn’t get what they wanted in a transparent, straightforward manner, they sneakily included language in a report that most lawmakers likely didn’t even know existed.
Senator Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., has stated the report language was his “legislation” and bragged how he kept the report language a secret for a long time and, reportedly, never mentioned it to the White House or Department of Energy. But undermining the Trump administration’s fight against the global climate agenda in an underhanded way shouldn’t be a bragging point. We should be fighting the EU and carbon border taxes, not caving to EU political pressure.
The arguments for a carbon intensity measuring scheme seem to be constantly changing. One recent claim is that measuring the carbon intensity of goods would help ensure EU numbers are accurate. Why don’t we instead just ensure Americans are not taxed by the EU in the first place? Cramer claims that his carbon measuring scheme would fit into Trump’s America First trade doctrine. But in fact it puts the EU and the global climate agenda first.
The Trump administration made it clear the U.S. wouldn’t tolerate a global carbon tax when it comes …
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