A top Democratic senator who has long pushed carbon tariffs said that a Republican pollution fee bill is a good starting point, though GOP sponsors say they plan to move ahead with their party-line proposal.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, the top Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, said that a foreign pollution fee bill released this week by Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was a “good first step” toward his long-stated goal of implementing a carbon tariff.
The Republican-led “Foreign Pollution Fee Act,” S. 1325, a version of which Cassidy also pushed last Congress, would slap tariffs on countries that generate high levels of manufacturing pollution for imports such as steel, aluminum and fertilizer. The bill was celebrated by a number of climate and manufacturing groups when it was released Tuesday.
Whitehouse, meanwhile, has advocated for more universal carbon tariffs that would punish domestic polluters in addition to foreign importers. He framed Cassidy and Graham’s bill as a first draft in an ongoing negotiation process.
