As the U.S. Chamber of Commerce fields ideas for long-term sustainable funding sources for infrastructure, U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has proposed ending fossil fuel subsidies and charging for carbon pollution.
Whitehouse submitted his proposal to the Chamber’s competition, which will award $25,000 to the winner. In it, he stated that the source or revenue would provide long-term revenue for infrastructure needs while simultaneously fighting back against climate change. Whitehouse has previously accused the Chamber of being one of Washington’s fiercest defenders of the fossil fuel industry.
“Unfortunately, not only has the U.S. Chamber of Commerce not supported climate action, it has actively opposed legislative and executive efforts to reduce carbon pollution, and has fought efforts to use the court system to tackle our climate crisis,” Whitehouse said. “Given the overwhelming evidence of the risks climate change poses to our economy and our infrastructure, if the Chamber is serious about supporting the “best, most viable ideas for […] long-term sustainable funding source[s] for infrastructure,” it should endorse policies that would simultaneously create a long-term funding source for infrastructure while reducing carbon pollution.”
While warning of the serious economic risks climate change poses to the U.S. economy and infrastructure, Whitehouse appeared to recognize the unlikelihood of his proposal winning out, prodding their dogged connections to the fossil fuel industry.
“In the unlikely event that the Chamber comes to its sense and chooses one of my proposals, I will request that any prize money be awarded to an organization that advances the goal of spending transparency in our political system, a goal that the notoriously opaque Chamber does so much to defeat,” Whitehouse said.