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U.S. Sens. Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island are hardly the types of elected officials one usually associates with t. But Wednesday afternoon found the liberal progressives at the famously conservative think tank introducing a new carbon tax bill, the “American Opportunity Carbon Free Act.”

AEI has long been focused on carbon taxation, which imposes fees on individuals or businesses emitting significant amounts of carbon dioxide each year — in the case of the Schatz/Whitehouse bill, annual emissions in excess of 25,000 tons. As Politico’s energy blog reported early Wednesday, “Some conservatives have long been fascinated by a carbon tax, insisting that it’s the best way to tackle climate change. Indeed, AEI itself has examined the concept for years, ruffling feathers in Republican circles when it held meetings with a number of groups in 2012 to brainstorm ways to deal with climate change, including a carbon tax, after the demise of cap-and-trade legislation.”

“We have solutions to climate change and one of them is putting a fair price on carbon pollution,” said Schatz in . “Market mechanisms for reducing pollution work, and our bill returns all of the revenue to American families and businesses. Climate change can no longer be an issued championed by one party. We need bipartisan leadership, and market-based solutions have support across the ideological spectrum.  Our bill will drive down emissions while correcting a market defect that has encouraged carbon pollution and stunted the development of clean energy.

“The price on carbon in our bill is predictable, straightforward to administer, and gets the reductions we need.”

The fee would start at $45 per metric ton in 2016, and rise annually by 2 percent plus the rate of inflation. The U.S. Treasury Department would assess the fee on fossil fuels “when mined, processed, refined or imported; on large emitters of non-fossil-fuel-based greenhouse gases; and on producers and importers of certain industrial gases with high global warming potential,” according to the statement.

The two legislators cited an analysis by Resources for the Future which indicates the bill would help lower CO2 emissions by 40 percent by 2025, compared to 2005 levels, and a Joint Committee on Taxation estimating the legislation would generate $2 trillion in revenue over 10 years. Those revenues would be used to lower corporate income tax, provide tax credits for payroll taxes for individual taxpayers, boost benefits for Social Security and veterans program beneficiaries and provide revenue to states to aid low-income and rural households and workers transitioning to new industries.

Whitehouse and Schatz are already touting conservative support for the measure. Their statement included quotes from Republican administration EPA Administrators William Ruckleshaus and William K. Reilly and former South Carolina Congressman Bob Inglis, now executive director of The Energy and Enterprise Initiative and republicEn.

Schatz and Whitehouse are becoming consistent tandem voices on energy matters. In March, the two led a seven-member group of Senate Democrats pressuring Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to seek public input on the effects of . A fancier phrase for what was once called soot, black carbon is thought to be a significant contributor to global warming and the cause of perhaps more than 30 percent of the warming conditions in the Arctic. The new effort continues that advocacy, but with a focus on building bi-partisan support.

“This bill shows that acting on climate change need not be costly, and that protecting our environment and strengthening our economy can go hand in hand,” said Whitehouse.  “As Republicans increasingly shift away from climate denial and toward potential solutions, I hope this bill can help move the conversation. A carbon fee follows conservative free-market principles in driving emission reductions and generates big economic benefits for American families and businesses.  I hope my Republican colleagues will work with me on this bill in the weeks and months ahead, and I thank Senator Schatz for joining me.”