A Look at Key Congressional Issues in the 113th Congress
During President Obama’s State of the Union Address earlier this month, we heard about the administration’s plans for addressing climate change and renewable energy resources, among other issues.
Here at CHOICES, we’re keeping track of the bills that impact sustainability, recycling and the environment the most, and – of course – the paper and forest products industry.
Here’s a brief overview of some of the legislation that may be considered in the coming session:
S. 332: Senators Sanders (I-VT) and Boxer (D-CA), the “Climate Protection Act” in February.
- The legislation would impose a carbon tax on large fossil fuel emitters (upstream) and use the fees collected from those emitters for energy efficiency, renewable energy, and deficit reduction efforts.
Postal Reform Legislation:
- An efficient postal system is an essential delivery mechanism for our products. Mail generates approximately $1 trillion to our economy and employs 8 million Americans in large and small businesses around the country, such as advertising, printing, paper manufacturing, as well as the publishing and financial service sectors.
BioPreferred Legislation:
- The “Forest Products Fairness Act of 2013” is scheduled to be reintroduced in the House and Senate shortly. This legislation would level the playing field for USDA’s BioPreferred program – which promotes the increased purchase and use of bio-based products – and acknowledge that forest products are eligible for this program.
Consumers for Paper Options:
- A coalition has formed in support of preserving paper-based options for Americans who need access to information and services. Despite good intentions, the government’s rush to digitize information threatens to disenfranchise millions of Americans—from low-income individuals to senior citizens and others that don’t have Internet access or prefer personal transactions. For more information on this issue, visit http://www.paperoptions.org/
We encourage you to do research on your own and find the issues that are most important to you. Get involved by speaking with your federal and state representatives about the issues you feel matter the most.
For more information, these simple search tools help you find issues by topic.
Library of Bills with keyword search:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query
