Carbon pricing offers a cost-effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Fourteen states are already pricing carbon, and a number of states are considering similar action. This factsheet summarizes and compares two federal carbon pricing proposals that have been introduced so far in the 118th Congress (2023–2024), highlighting similarities and differences. Two of these proposals would establish a carbon tax (or “carbon fee”). They are:

• The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act of 2021 (H.R. 5744) introduced by Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.) on September 27, 2023
• The Modernizing America with Rebuilding to Kickstart the Economy of the Twenty-first Century with a Historic Infrastructure-Centered Expansion Act of 2023 (MARKET CHOICE Act, H.R. 6665) introduced by Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.) on December 7, 2023

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This factsheet compares border adjustment-related proposals introduced in the 118th Congress (2023–2024). It also outlines key policy considerations in designing a carbon border adjustment.

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Those lessons are:

1. Performance-based investing with long-term access
2. Support for domestic employment with fair wages
3. Broad pools of eligibility with extended timelines
4. Leveraging regional supply chains
5. Investment in low-income, marginalized communities

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While many of us who’ve been policy advocates for years still tend to question the workings of this long, complicated process, it’s still important to understand how the federal government spends our tax dollars, and how nonprofit organizations like C2ES can help ensure those taxpayer dollars go toward addressing the most pressing needs.

The process starts when the president releases a budget request for the coming fiscal year. The president’s budget request (PBR) is a coordinated effort between the White House, federal agencies, and the Office of Management and Budget. It is supposed to be released in February but is often delayed. The document is directed at Congress and provides the executive branch’s recommendation for how much money the government should spend on individual federal programs, how much tax revenue it should collect, and how much of a deficit it should run. It is important to note that the PBR is just a request, it does not carry any binding authority unless Congress acts on it.

Once the PBR is unveiled, Congress responds by creating its own plan , the congressional budget resolution. Both chambers of Congress release versions that set the total level of funding that Congress can distribute among all government agencies and programs for the fiscal year. After the budget resolution is established, and total funding levels are determined for each appropriations subcommittee. These subcommittees draft 12 individual appropriation bills that detail how much money each federal agency and its programs will receive.

To develop each appropriations bill, members of the House and Senate meet with stakeholders, including constituents, community groups, non-profit organizations, and academia, to better understand priorities and how much federal support is needed. This is where advocates like C2ES have a chance to support federal funding and programs that bolster clean energy development and deployment.

This year, C2ES advocated for several priority programs supporting research, development, and demonstration for clean energy technologies within the Department of Energy (DOE). Specifically, C2ES supported a meaningful increase for DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy which supports deployments or demonstrations for decarbonizing the electricity sector, industrial sector, agriculture sector, transportation, and buildings. We also urged increased support for programs that would increase hydrogen production, make biofuels more affordable, and invest in carbon capture innovation. All these programs have the potential to strengthen low- and zero-carbon technologies.

From there, it’s important to identify members of Congress who care about these specific priorities. To encourage their support for these programs, we submitted formal requests detailing why we were asking them to fund these programs at the necessary investment levels. The members of the Energy and Water Subcommittees of the U.S. House and Senate Appropriations Committees are pivotal decisionmakers for these programs, as they are solely responsible for drafting the subcommittee bill that includes the Department of Energy. As such, they are inundated by requests from stakeholders who want to offer input on the direction and size of these programs, including C2ES. A principal task for the staff responsible for appropriations is weighing those requests against the spending limits as determined by the budget resolution and each subcommittee’s respective budget allocation.

As part of that process, advocates work to meet with their members of Congress and staff to reinforce their formal requests. This is a great opportunity to have a back-and-forth with senators and representatives and allows members and staff to ask questions in real time. Both advocates and government officials benefit from these meetings.

By summertime, the Appropriation subcommittees have ideally taken member input into consideration and released text of spending bills. This exercise is followed by legislative hearings and mark ups, which is a process where members of the committee discuss and amend the bills in preparation for a vote on the full House or Senate floor. In most cases, each chamber of Congress passes legislation with different funding levels for federal agencies and programs. In this case, the two chambers name a conference committee to find a compromise on the differences between the versions. Once the conference approves a compromise bill, the House and Senate vote on final passage and then the president can sign it into law.

Unfortunately, Congress does not always pass appropriation bills by the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. When this happens, Congress typically passes a continuing resolution (CR) to continue funding the government at the previous fiscal year’s spending levels to avoid a government shutdown.

All in all, the annual budget appropriations process is lengthy and rigorous, and doing it well requires a lot of time and dedication from both stakeholders and Congress. However, federal spending is one of the most reliable and impactful exercises of priority setting and it is essential for advocates to engage in that process to ensure that the federal government’s spending priorities reflect opportunities for climate progress and clean energy. A unique, springtime ritual in Washington, engaging in the appropriations process is a must for organizations and individuals who feel strongly about the priorities we set as a country.

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The next two years will be crucial in determining whether we can maintain that momentum and realize the promise of recent gains. Climate action, however, continues to face headwinds from the ongoing energy crisis resulting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, persistent inflation, supply chain disruptions, high commodity prices, and higher interest rates. Meanwhile, continuing partisan political divides provide an added layer of complexity.

Nevertheless, the private sector continues to invest in low-carbon technologies, both to reduce emissions and to capitalize on growing markets for low-carbon goods and services. Companies and the communities they operate in both stand to benefit substantially from these opportunities, but the private sector can move further and faster with targeted policy support. Policymakers will need to prioritize climate and energy policies to realize those benefits and accelerate the transition to a thriving, just, and resilient net-zero emissions economy.

Realizing the full potential of the low-carbon economy will require not only the strategic implementation of the IIJA, CHIPS Act, and IRA, but also new legislative and regulatory actions. Implemented well, these three laws will catalyze much-needed investment in low-carbon technologies, clean-energy infrastructure, and climate resilience. But they alone cannot transform the economy. Hard-to-abate sectors will require further support, including clear market signals to speed the low-carbon transition. Additionally, supply chains will need reimagining; any carbon-pricing and trade policy must align; paths to climate resilience must be defined and cleared; and our workforce will need to evolve to meet the needs of growing sectors.

This brief lays out a set of legislative and executive recommendations that fall into four major priority categories:

1. Investment: Policies to drive private sector investment in clean-energy and low-carbon technologies, as well as approaches to minimize investment risk.
2. Competitiveness: Policies to enhance the competitiveness of U.S. industries, particularly manufacturing, by growing domestic markets and supply chains, innovating new and exportable low-carbon technologies, and building on the U.S. carbon advantage.
3. Community: Policies to empower local communities not only to prepare for the impacts of a changing climate, but to also build the necessary capacity to capitalize on emerging economic development opportunities in the low-carbon transition.
4. Whole of economy: Policies to further reduce emission across the entire economy.

These recommendations have been informed through a series of discussions with companies across a wide range of sectors to identify specific legislative and regulatory approaches that can best align climate and economic objectives. What follows is a set of recommendations developed with the benefit of that input, which can help grow the U.S. economy while taking significant steps to further reduce emissions. C2ES is grateful to these companies for their contributions.

A summary factsheet of the policy priorities can be found here.

Reaching for 2030 Release Event
Feb. 28, 2023
Washingtion, D.C.

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C2ES is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization whose mission is to secure a safe and stable climate by accelerating the global transition to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and a thriving, just, and resilient economy.

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Join C2ES to hear from leading congressional and business voices about the prospects for action in the 118th Congress and additional steps that must be taken to drive private sector investments, enhance the competitiveness of U.S. industries, empower communities to respond to the impacts of climate change, and further reduce emissions across the entire economy.

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