Carbon tax funds infrastructure, but energy costs will rise for all Americans
H.R. 3001 — Modernizing America with Rebuilding to Kickstart the Economy of the Twenty-first Century with a Historic Infrastructure-Centered Expansion Act · Filed by Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) · Introduced Apr 24, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill creates a federal carbon tax starting at $35 per metric ton in 2027, rising annually by 5 percentage points plus inflation, applied to fossil fuels, industrial processes, and certain products. It dedicates 75% of revenue to a trust fund that distributes money to highway infrastructure (70%), state grants for low-income households, energy worker assistance, airport improvements, coastal flooding mitigation, clean energy R&D, and other climate/infrastructure programs. It also imposes border taxes on carbon-intensive imports and rebates on exports to prevent companies from relocating production overseas.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a broad-based carbon tax on fossil fuels and industrial emissions, with revenue dedicated to infrastructure, climate adaptation, and worker assistance. The border adjustment mechanism is secondary to the core tax structure.
What the text implies
- The carbon tax rate escalates automatically by 5 percentage points annually plus inflation, potentially reaching $100+ per ton by 2037 without congressional action, creating a de facto regulatory ratchet that may be difficult to reverse.
- Border tax adjustment mechanism may trigger trade disputes or WTO challenges, and exemptions for least-developed countries and low-emission nations create complex eligibility determinations that could become politicized.
- State-level carbon tax credits phase out over five years (100% → 0%), potentially creating cliff effects for states with existing carbon pricing and incentivizing states to abandon their own programs.
- Low-income household assistance is capped at 10% of RISE Trust Fund revenue; if carbon tax revenues fall short of projections due to emissions reductions or economic slowdown, assistance programs may be underfunded relative to energy price increases.
- The bill's effectiveness depends entirely on regulatory implementation (EPA/Treasury must publish detailed rules by 2026); delays or weak rules could undermine the entire program, and the text does not establish enforcement mechanisms or penalties for regulatory non-compliance.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Citizens benefit from substantial infrastructure investment, coastal flood mitigation, clean energy R&D, and direct assistance to low-income households for energy costs. However, the carbon tax will increase energy and product prices across the economy, with costs borne disproportionately by lower-income households despite some offsetting assistance, and the border tax mechanism may raise import prices for consumers.
Who stands to gain
- highway construction and infrastructure contractors
- renewable energy and clean technology companies
- energy efficiency and weatherization service providers
- carbon capture and storage technology developers
- battery and energy storage manufacturers
- domestic manufacturers in carbon-intensive sectors (via export rebates and border protection)
Named in the bill
Internal Revenue Service, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy, Department of Labor, Department of Transportation, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Highway Trust Fund, Airport and Airway Trust Fund, RISE Trust Fund (newly created), fossil fuel producers, industrial manufacturers (steel, cement, chemicals, etc.), energy-intensive importers
Where it stands
- Apr 24, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Apr 24, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Veterans' Affairs and House Committee on Small Business · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $690,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 69 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Brian Fitzpatrick, the sponsor, reported $2,334,711 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- National Treasury Employees Union — $690,000 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (50,094 characters) on Sep 23, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,707 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-09-23.
“Carbon tax funds infrastructure, but energy costs will rise for all Americans” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr3001 Report an error