In a letter to the Congressional Budget Office, the three Senators have committed to including the new language in S.2191 when the bill is brought up in the full Senate for debate this June. The Climate Security Act cleared the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which Senator Boxer chairs, last December.
In essence, funds will be set aside to ensure that the bill is deficit neutral.
Senator Boxer said, "The CBO's recognition that our bill as amended will be deficit-neutral is an enormous breakthrough. At the end of the day, this bill will be a boon to the economy."
Senator Lieberman said, "Our intent has always been that this climate legislation will impose no burden on the federal budget. This amendment and the Budget Office's statement confirm that we will achieve that intent."
Senator Warner said, "I am pleased that my colleagues and I were able to devise a tweak to our bill that allows the Congressional Budget Office to find that passage of this bill will come at no cost to the federal government."
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Related Files
- 4.9.2008 Sens. Boxer, Lieberman, and Warner to Peter Orszag - 492008BoxerLiebermanandWarnertoOrszag.pdf (572.7 KBs)
- S. 2191 CBO Cost Estimate - S2191CBOCostEstimate.pdf (18.1 KBs)