A report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO
) says the climate & energy bill currently stalled in the Senate would reduce the federal deficit by about $19 billion over the next ten years. The CBO is responsible for providing Congress with nonpartisan analyses of economic and budget issues, and lawmakers rely on it for guidance. This is the second positive analysis of the bill by a government agency in a month. A similar report was issued by the Environmental Protection Agency in June.
Many senators have said they flatly oppose legislation that adds even a penny to the federal deficit, and these two reports should force them to look anew at this initiative which will actually reduce it.
In its report Wednesday, the CBO said the energy bill would increase federal revenues by about $751 billion from 2011 to 2020, mostly though the sale of carbon credits in a cap-and-trade plan to be applied to utilities and other sectors of the economy. (more…)
