Maryland Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen, an up-and-coming Democratic leader and chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, has big ideas when it comes to passing a climate bill in 2009.

Grist is reporting that Van Hollen suggests offering Americans rebates or “dividands” by taking proceeds from selling pollution permits to industries and return that money directly to “every American with a Social Security number” in the form of a monthly check.  His hope is that this legislation will help grow support for legislation to cap carbon.

Van Hollen says, “You need to get something that will be politically supported on an ongoing basis. You don’t want somebody coming through three years from now and undoing something. If you want sustainable clean energy, you need sustainable political support for clean energy, and you need sustainable support among the American people.”