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Obama says he will put a price on carbon

President Barack Obama in the State of the Union address laid out his plan for pursuing a price on carbon in the United States.

Obama said: “I urge this Congress to get together, pursue a bipartisan, market-based solution to climate change, like the one John McCain and Joe Lieberman worked on together a few years ago. But if Congress won’t act soon to protect future generations, I will.”

He continued: “I will direct my cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take, now and in the future, to reduce pollution, prepare our communities for the consequences of climate change, and speed the transition to more sustainable of sources of energy.”

Obama cited recent extreme weather events in the US, such as Frankenstorm Sandy which devastated states such as New Jersey in October, as reasons to act on climate.
The full transcript of the State of the Union address can be found here.

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