America has an opportunity to address both its short- and long-term economic health while changing the environmental health of the world. The White House should introduce a bill that does 3 things:
1) Enable US natural gas producers to export gas to consumers in Europe and Asia
2) Place a simple carbon tax on all forms of carbon. This tax should start small and escalate of a long time period to give producers a planning horizon.
3) Use all proceeds to pay off the national debt. If that debt is ever fully paid, only then can the government borrow against future carbon tax income streams.
In the short term, this would drive demand for cleaner natural gas and create an additional supply source globally. In the long term, it would drive demand for no-carbon energy sources