Sponsors (26)
The bill creates a large, predictable 'polluter pays' funding stream and prioritizes vulnerable communities and resilience investments, but does so by imposing sizable new taxes/assessments and legal obligations that risk higher consumer prices, increased business and litigation costs, administrative complexity, and uneven local access while constraining some budgetary flexibility.
Low-income, frontline, tribal, and other vulnerable communities receive targeted resilience investments and protections (including a statutory minimum of 40% of annual Fund investments), reducing disproportionate climate harms and improving local preparedness.
Creates a dedicated 'Polluters Pay' Climate Fund financed by pollution-related taxes/assessments (modeled at ~$100 billion/year) that provides predictable, long‑term revenue for adaptation, resilience, and disaster response projects.
Substantially increases federal support for disaster response, resilient infrastructure, and air-quality programs (e.g., not less than $15B to FEMA annually, guaranteed BRIC funding, and EPA grant funding), accelerating preparedness and reducing future recovery costs for communities and governments.
Households and consumers could face higher energy and goods prices if fossil-fuel companies pass the law's $100B/year assessments and any new GHG taxes through to customers.
New pollution taxes and the disallowance of related deductions will raise tax liabilities and operating costs for many businesses—especially energy‑intensive firms—which can be passed on to consumers or squeeze business margins.
Large mandatory minimum allocations and an expectation of trillions in adaptation investment reduce Congressional budget flexibility and may necessitate higher taxes, more borrowing, or cuts to other programs.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Creates a new federal tax on present greenhouse gas emissions, funds a Treasury trust for resilience and disaster response, requires minimum distributions and 40% for environmental justice communities.
Official title: To impose an assessment related to fossil fuel emissions, to establish the Polluters Pay Climate Fund, and for other purposes.
Introduced February 7, 2025 by Jerrold Lewis Nadler · Last progress February 7, 2025
Creates a new federal tax regime on the current stock of greenhouse gas emissions and directs the revenue into a Treasury trust called the Polluters Pay Climate Fund to finance climate resilience, adaptation, disaster response, and environmental justice investments. The bill requires large annual minimum distributions to FEMA and specified grant programs, mandates that 40% of Fund appropriations benefit environmental justice communities, and preserves private and state legal remedies related to climate harms.