CLEAN TEA, an interesting new transportation bill, has been introduced in both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate.

Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del) said: “Today, we fund our transportation system through a gas tax, meaning we pay for roads and transit by burning gasoline. When people drive less, our transportation budgets dry up. This means states and localities that reduce oil use, lower greenhouse emissions and save their constituents money end up getting their budgets cut. But CLEAN TEA reverses this negative funding policy by sending money to states and localities based on how much they reduce emissions. Now, we in the Congress have the great opportunity to address many national problems at once – finding additional funding for transportation infrastructure, building money-saving transportation alternatives and lowering greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector.”

They'd pay for the funds through a carbon tax.

Bipartisan, Bicameral sponsors include: Sens. Thomas Carper (D-Del.) and Arlen Specter (R-Penn.) and Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.), Steven La Tourette (R-Ohio), Melissa Bean (D-Ill.), and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.).

Does anyone know if this is a bill that is intended to become "the big transportation reauthorization", or is its TEAtastic title just there to confuse us?

Note: Tea image courtesy Wikimol at wikimedia.org.