Senators Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) are cosponsoring the "Providing Reliable, Objective, Verifiable Emissions Intensity and Transparency (PROVE IT) Act," which calls for the government to study the carbon emissions of products produced in both the United States and foreign countries. Other cosponsors of the bill, introduced Wednesday, are Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.), Angus King (I-Maine), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.).

The PROVE IT Act would require the Department of Energy, along with several other federal agencies, to conduct a two-year study (to be updated every five years thereafter) on the "emissions intensity" of the production of a variety of "covered products" including aluminum, crude and refined oil, iron, steel, paper, solar cells, and wind turbines. The idea is to compare the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by domestic production of these products to that emitted by foreign production.