Language Reflects Senators Cramer and Coons PROVE IT Act
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Senate passed three appropriations bills on Jan. 15 and President Trump signed them into law. Imbedded in the bill is language directing the Department of Energy (DOE) in consultation with the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) to conduct a comprehensive study comparing the emissions intensity of certain goods produced in the United States to the emissions of those same goods produced in other countries. Last Congress, U.S. Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND), a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, and Chris Coons (D-DE) introduced the Providing Reliable Objective Verifiable Emissions Intensity and Transparency (PROVE IT)Act to highlight America’s carbon advantage and push back against discriminatory foreign tariffs on American products. The PROVE IT Act passedthe Senate EPW Committee with strong bipartisan support in January 2024.
The report mandated by the language sets the groundwork for successfully leveling the playing field for domestic producers and manufacturers who have lower emissions than dirtier products from foreign producers. Cramer has described the PROVE IT Act as the “low-hanging fruit” of promoting American standards.
The DOE NETL study must encompass all items implicated by the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), providing a data-driven rebuttal to any potential trade discrimination against American producers. On Jan. 1, the EU’s CBAM went into effect, placing a tariff on imported products like steel, cement, aluminum, iron, fertilizers and electricity if they are deemed dirtier than European standards. The EU has already opened the door expanding the tariff to appliances and other manufactured goods.
“We’ve known for a long time that manufacturers here in the United States make some of the cleanest products in the world,” said Cramer. “We can actually prove it, and we should. We should use that excellence as an advantage to ensure that our producers aren’t discriminated against by our trade partners or worse, undercut by polluting countries like China. It’s really an America First approach, and I look forward to working with Secretary Wright and the administration to get this report done, to make it a tradition, and make it a part of our trade policy going forward.”
In a joint op-ed with U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Cramer noted it is not just geopolitical adversaries exploiting and attacking American manufacturers, but also the EU, which is in the midst of implementing its own backdoor attack on American manufacturing through CBAM. When President Trump called out unfair trade practices on April 2, 2025, referred to as Liberation Day, he pinpointed “filthy pollution havens.” After the president’s comments, Cramer published an editorial in RealClearEnergy advocating for an America-First industrial and trade policy that monetizes the superior environmental performance of Americanworkers while encouraging domestic investment in the cleanest manufacturing in the world.