Good news for climate change bill…
The American Clean Energy and Security Act, AKA the Waxman-Markey climate change bill, just got a big boost from a Congressional Budget Office report estimating its costs $175 of after tax income for most households.
Translation: it won’t cost a whole lot.
The big winners here are households in the lowest quintile (those with incomes around $20,000 in 2007 numbers) who will save $40 a year in energy costs as a result of the allowances and rebates in the bill. Even households making up to $100,000 (2007 numbers) will end up paying a relatively meager $340 extra a year.
After all the compromises required to get the bill out of committee, notably the allocation of free credits to industry and electricity generators, this report is a bit of populist good news for the bill’s sponsors.
