Urgently defending our landmark climate law
Anti-climate lawmakers are attempting to gut funding for key Inflation Reduction Act climate programs – don’t let them.
The Climate Changemakers community has spent over two years advocating for the passage and implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act, a law appropriating $369 billion in government spending to reduce emissions. Now, anti-climate lawmakers in the House of Representatives are threatening to gut some provisions of the IRA by tying them to must-pass spending bills. This should be a moment of urgency for constituents, and we should use all the tools in our advocacy toolkits to let Congress know the IRA isn’t negotiable.
Which Climate Changemakers policy priorities were part of the IRA?
🚗 Incentives for electric vehicles & electric municipal fleets
⚡️ Clean electricity incentives for cities and states
🏠 Incentives for residential & commercial buildings to electrify
💰 A small repeal of fossil fuel subsidies
⚖️ Federal grants for local government to invest in environmental justice communities
💵 Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a financial accelerator for climate projects
☀️ Solar for All grant program
🏭 Climate Pollution Reduction Grants
…and the IRA does so much more than this!
So what’s happening in Congress right now?
Do you remember when the government nearly shut down last fall? We do. 🙄 By the end of each fiscal year (for the U.S. government, that’s September 30th annually), Congress is supposed to pass legislation that funds every government agency through the following fiscal year. This isn’t one bill but a series of “appropriations” bills that fund different sections of the government. Over the past few months, Congress has not actually passed its full set of appropriations bills for the 2024 Fiscal Year (FY2024) which started on October 1, 2023—months ago!—and ends Sept 30, 2024. Instead, it has averted a shutdown twice by passing short-term spending bills called “continuing resolutions.” The next shutdown deadline for most federal agencies is March 22, so Congress will ideally reach a compromise on its full set of spending bills by that date.
The anti-climate majority in the House has already made 31 attempts to repeal parts of the Inflation Reduction Act. Notably, several of those attempts have now manifested in proposed appropriations bills for FY2024. Meaning legislators are attempting to undercut climate programs by attaching budget cuts to legislation that must pass to keep the government running.
Here are some of the most alarming examples already passed by the House:
The High-Efficiency Electric Home Rebate Program and Home Efficiency Contractor Training Grants, which this community worked to implement and helps homeowners and contractors electrify residential buildings, would be stripped of $4.5 billion.
The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which we worked to implement over multiple campaigns in 2023 to provide catalytic low-interest financing for clean energy projects, would lose almost $19 billion.
$1.4 billion in environmental justice spending, aimed at most impacted communities in the U.S., would be repealed.
There have also been numerous proposed spending bills and amendments attacking rural clean energy provisions, as well as attempting to undermine the executive branch’s authority to implement the IRA, that failed to pass the full House but which could be resurrected at any time.
What are we going to do about it?
Our task here is simple: tell your members of Congress that you don’t want to see any IRA climate provisions on the chopping block.
We know how complicated nailing down a budget deal can be in this political environment, but these hard-won climate provisions can’t be traded for an easy spending win. Even pro-climate lawmakers need their constituents to remind of them that climate action is a top priority, since they’ll be under immense pressure to make trade-offs.
Ready to act? Use our call page with a suggested script to send a personalized message to your U.S. House rep and senators.