House to vote on measure denouncing carbon tax

The House is set to vote as soon as next week on a measure that would condemn the idea of a carbon tax.

The resolution, introduced by House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.) in April, would express the “sense of Congress” that a tax on carbon dioxide emissions “would be detrimental to American families and businesses, and is not in the best interest of the United States.”

House GOP leaders posted the measure Friday on a list of proposals due for consideration by the full House next week.

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The nonbinding measure mirrors one passed in 2016, shortly before the presidential election.

Since then, new efforts have emerged to try to convince Republicans — who generally either don’t believe that greenhouse gases from human activity are a big factor in climate change or don’t think the government should take action to mitigate global warming — that a carbon tax is a good idea.

They include a “carbon dividends” proposal backed by former GOP statesmen like former Secretary of State James Baker, former Secretary of State George Shultz and former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson.

That proposal’s backers started pushing the idea last year, including in a meeting with White House aides to President Trump. Under their idea, all of the money collected would return to the economy through tax breaks or other means.

In addition, some conservative scholars support a carbon tax, as do major oil companies like Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell.

To the GOP, the concept needs to be nipped in the bud.

In introducing the resolution in April, Scalise said it “would yet again put Congress on record against a carbon tax, which would result in massive job losses, lead to higher prices for American families and small businesses, and jeopardize America’s energy security.”

Scalise’s home state of Louisiana is economically dependent on the oil and natural gas industry’s offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, a sector that would likely face increased costs from a carbon tax.

The 2016 resolution passed 237-163, with all Republicans and six Democrats voting in favor of it.