Sanders, Boxer Bill Gains Support
February 19, 2013
There is growing grassroots support for legislation to combat global warming. A bold new proposal by Sens. Bernie Sanders and Barbara Boxer, chairman of the Senate environment committee, has attracted support from environment and consumer groups. The legislation also has drawn overwhelming public support from a record number of respondents to our online poll. The proposed tax on carbon emission would reduce the use of fossil fuels that contribute to climate change, encourage U.S. companies to move to cleaner forms of energy, increase efficiency of existing fossil fuels and help develop new technologies. Rebates to consumers would reduce the impact of the tax on their energy bills. The revenue raised also would be used to help invest in clean energy technologies and solve our budget problems. “We will never fully deal with this crisis until Congress passes strong legislation. Sen. Boxer and I are going to fight as hard as we can to do that, and we will work to rally support from American families all across this country that care deeply about their children and grandchildren's future, and want to protect them from this planetary crisis,” Sanders wrote in an op-ed published by The Guardian.
Read what others say about the Sanders-Boxer bill
“Sens. Sanders and Boxer actually understand the depth of the climate problem we face. We are awfully grateful to them for starting us down the legislative path that could reverse our disastrous course. We hope and trust that they won't have to be a lone voice."
- Bill McKibben author, activist, founder of 350.org
“Climate disruption is one of the most pressing challenges of our time and we must move forward with solutions on all fronts. While all eyes are on President Obama’s pending actions to cut carbon emissions from power plants, halt risky drilling in America's arctic, and reject the dirty and dangerous Keystone XL pipeline, we need champions in the Senate like Bernie Sanders and Barbara Boxer pushing strong, comprehensive climate solutions that can double down on these critical administrative actions.”
– Mike Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club
Sen. Sanders and Sen. Boxer continue to focus us on what really matters: our moral obligation to leave a country and a planet to our children that is not damaged and polluted. They are taking action to reduce carbon pollution — making sure that political squabbling doesn’t distract us from the task at hand. Today, across the country, Americans of all walks of life are coping with the devastating impacts of climate change on their homes, businesses, and livelihoods. It’s time that we invest in our communities, rather than leaving the American taxpayer to foot a billion-dollar bill while they’re clearing the debris and fearing the effects of the next catastrophic storm.
-Tara McGuiness, Center for American Progress
“We thank Sens. Sanders and Boxer for their leadership and commitment to increasing wind energy deployment and job creation through policies like long-term extensions of the Production Tax Credit and Investment Tax Credit, as well as the reinstatement of the clean energy manufacturing credit. Wind energy has created 30,000 manufacturing jobs in America, saves consumers billions of dollars a year, and will avoid nearly 100 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions this year, or 1.8% of the entire country’s carbon emissions. Long-term policies such as Senators Sanders and Boxer are pursuing can secure the benefits of wind energy long into the future and put more Americans to work today.”
-Rob Gramlich, Interim CEO, AWEA
"We applaud the Sanders/Boxer climate bill for addressing climate change head-on. We are very pleased that it helps households with the least money to manage their energy bills by providing funding to weatherize millions of low-income homes and it helps all families by returning 60% of the revenue directly to them.”
- Olivia Wein, National Consumer Law Center Attorney
“Pricing carbon is an important tool to address climate change, and this legislation ensures that working families aren’t penalized by dedicating 3/5 of revenues to a per-capita family refund. This will protect families at the same time we seek to protect the climate.”
- Tyson Slocum, Public Citizen’s energy program director
"The National Community Action Foundation and our local members support Senator Sanders’ and Chairman Boxer’s approach to slowing down climate change and mitigating its impacts. This policy framework would protect our economic growth while , protecting vulnerable consumers by putting money right back in their pockets; it rewards those who use less energy at home, and it invests in retrofitting and preparing the homes and communities most vulnerable to violent weather and high energy costs. This the collection of effective and fair policies to build a different energy future.”
- Meg Power, National Community Action Foundation
“Sen. Sanders once again is demonstrating his leadership on behalf of Vermonters by urging Washington to recognize that there is no greater threat to the future of Vermont and the planet than climate change.”
-Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin
A demonstrator at a Sunday rally in Washington, D.C. holds a sign supporting new climate change legislation introduced in the Senate.
