Here’s another update on the budget reconciliation rollercoaster.
Over the weekend the Senate Finance Committee released draft text of that committee’s part of the budget. It included some minor updates to the House version of the bill but unfortunately did not include a carbon tax (see Politico).
Our CCL team in DC says that, while this is disappointing, it is not the end of the road for a carbon price in the budget.
Our allies in the Senate say that they are still negotiating with Senator Joe Manchin and that a carbon price is still on the table (Politico says, “Senator Wyden said conversations over the text are "continuing."”). I’ll also note that there is some benefit to carbon pricing not being in the current draft, as that will avoid excessive public attacks while the negotiations continue.
It’s clear from other reporting that there may still be a lot to negotiate in the bill, so it does appear likely that things will continue on into January, as Senator Chuck Schumer’s goal of passage by Christmas seems increasingly unlikely.
Also, if you have not seen Danny Richter’s update from the Saturday call it gives some good context on the current situation as well, noting numerous members of Congress close to the action who have made pro carbon pricing statements in the press lately.
I wish there was more to report, but for the most part negotiations are happening behind closed doors and not a lot of info is getting out to the press or our staff in DC. Our staff is continuing to meet with our allies and we are continuing our phone and text banks this week. It’s hard for all of us committed climate and carbon pricing advocates to ride out these final negotiations, but we can get through this phase and whatever comes out of it the way we always have–together. We will keep you posted as we learn more.
Thanks Tony! Do you know how much emissions reduction it achieves as written?
Great post and update as always Tony, thank you!
Nicholas - is this CCL Blog about the Rhodium group's analysis helpful to your question? https://citizensclimatelobby.org/blog/policy/on-fourth-and-goal-budget-reconciliation-needs-a-carbon-price-to-score/
Also if it's helpful to others, I'm passing on an additional short Opinion piece in the Washington Post from Jennifer Rubin on “With Joe Manchin, it's never over until it's over.”
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