After being critical of President Trump’s tariff policy Dems write a new climate bill that will charge imported goods.

Immediately on the heels of the farcical Green New Deal a new environmental bill is being forwarded through the House that is barely any better. The best that can be said is this new legislation is less ambitious, and by default it is less embarrassing. That does little to make this a smart proposal. It also does not explain how those railing against Donald Trump’s tariff policies are just fine with adding “fees” to imported goods, in the name of carbon reduction.

Using noble language and unicorn-type projections, we are told that only good things will derive from this new proposal. What we are not told is specifically HOW this is supposed to deliver the results. We also can see an aversion to facts in the touting of this plan as a bipartisan bill. “Republicans and Democrats are both on board co-sponsoring this bill,” the dedicated website claims, yet in the listing of those co-sponsoring this bill we see Rep. Francis Mooney (FL) as the lone GOP member to be found.

Dubbed the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act (EICDA) what the goal is with this new plan is to levee fees (not taxes, mind you) upon the energy producers in the country. The money collected from these industries would be used to refund citizens. So the people who will be looking at higher prices — via those fees passed along to consumers, as well as increased fuel prices increasing the costs of food and goods — will have more money to pay those higher prices. That is hardly a benefit.

How will these surcharges on energy producers lead to solutions? Good luck finding those answers. In the section of the EICDA website that supposedly explains how it works, the best we get is platitudes. They will charge these fees, and magic will transpire. Carbon levels will plummet, and we will “bring climate change under control”. They actually write that in the plan.

This policy puts a fee on fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas. It starts low, and grows over time. This will drive down carbon pollution because energy companies, leading industries, and American consumers will move toward cleaner, cheaper options.

So simply the act of charging companies will lead to this? How exactly will businesses embark on costly research and the retrofitting of the framework of their operations when the government is also taking money from them? (Imagine your local government hiking your property taxes to motivate you into adding a new wing on your home.) But it does not take long to see the writers of this bill saw the folly in their plan.

This bill includes what is called the Border Carbon Adjustment. Since this policy only affects domestic energy producers, and foreign countries are not subject to these fees, then imported goods will pay an additional “adjustment”. By calling this something other than a tariff does not alter its impact. To operate as if these foreign importers would go along peacefully with these charges proves this has barely been thought out.

The Democrats who have long held that President Trump’s tariffs would be injurious to our economy feel that by dressing up tariff fees as a “carbon adjustment” means that no economic retribution will follow. These same environmental geniuses apparently think that the simple act of gouging energy producers will lead to fabulous innovations and completely solve climate change.

Just don’t call their “fees” a tax, and don’t describe their “carbon adjustments” as a tariff — everything will just work out fine, in 10-12 years.