Staff Reports
The House of Representatives passed the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024. This was a bold move to limit government spending and go against the Biden administration's plan to deal with climate change. This bill, which is worth $25 billion, aims to cut funding for several climate change-related projects while putting urgent needs first.
The bill's author, Republican Representative Mike Simpson of Idaho's 2nd District, stressed how important it is to make tough decisions so that future generations don't have to deal with too much debt. He talked about how the national debt was over $32 trillion and how inflation was too high, which made the need for these tough choices clear.
House passes EPA spending bill that defunds several Biden climate initiatives https://t.co/Xp8rhxfzfN
— Bo Snerdley (@BoSnerdley) November 3, 2023
As expected, all Democrats voted against the bill, showing how divided Republicans and Democrats are on this topic. During the process, the House looked at more than 130 proposals. A lot of them were put forward by Republicans who wanted to cut money from a number of climate change programs. Many of these changes did not pass, though, because they were opposed by both parties.
One of the changes that passed was one from Tennessee Republican Representative John Rose that would have stopped money from being used to enforce laws against plastic straws. Representative Scott Perry, a Republican from Pennsylvania and head of the House Freedom Caucus, made another important amendment that tried to stop domestic pollutants from hurting other countries.
Representative Andy Ogles, a Republican from Tennessee, proposed an amendment that would not give money to carry out a part of the Inflation Reduction Act that raises minimum rents and royalties for oil and gas projects. But the most controversial amendment, which barely passed, was put forward by Republican Representative Chip Roy of Texas. It says that none of President Joe Biden's executive decisions on climate change can be carried out with federal funds.
The bill has been vetoed by President Biden because his government is worried about how it might affect important programs like nutrition services, law enforcement, consumer safety, education, healthcare, and clean energy initiatives. The Office of Management and Budget has said that the bill's funding amounts and other changes are not good enough.
While the House fights over the budget, the Senate has introduced a different spending bill that is more in line with Biden's environmental goals. This bill gives an extra $19 billion and $100 million to organizations that work for environmental justice. Right now, it's not clear what Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will do about the House plan.
Even though there was opposition, the House's move to cut funding for some climate change programs shows that conservatives and liberals have very different ideas about where environmental policies should go in the future in the United States. We still don't know if the Senate will follow the same road or a different one.
