The House Energy and Commerce Committee released legislative text that would roll back climate funding implemented by former President Joe Biden‘s Inflation Reduction Act.
The committee is seeking to repeal billions of dollars in funding from climate initiatives established through the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. The committee would cancel up to $6.5 billion just in unspent funding from the law, which Democrats passed with no GOP votes.
The legislation in question is the committee’s portion of the major fiscal overhaul to implement President Donald Trump’s agenda. Republicans plan to pass the multitrillion-dollar legislation through budget reconciliation, a process that allows for bills to bypass the filibuster and pass with only a simple majority in the Senate.
The Energy and Commerce Committee draft includes canceling grant money to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund program, which was established through the IRA. The program has been a prime target for EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, who has said it was mismanaged by the Biden administration. The EPA and several grantees are undergoing a legal battle over the grant money.
The legislation would also repeal the “unobligated balance” of IRA funding from the Energy Department Loans Program Office. Cutting the office’s loan authority could bring its portfolio to pre-Biden administration levels.
It’s unclear how much of the office’s funds are not obligated, meaning they can be pulled back with little challenge. However, industry experts have warned that the move could essentially “eliminate” the office.
The proposal targets several IRA climate initiatives, including the latest corporate average fuel economy standards issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the EPA’s recent rule on multipollutant emissions standards for vehicles with model years of 2027 or later. While speaking with members of the press on Monday, committee staff said the changes were included with the expectation that Biden-era tax credits for electric vehicles would also be rescinded as part of the overall reconciliation bill.
Surprisingly, House Republicans did not move to completely repeal the Biden administration’s fee for excess methane emissions and instead pushed back compliance by 10 years to 2034.
Energy and Commerce Republicans are also looking to build upon the House Natural Resources Committee’s efforts to speed up the permitting process for fossil fuel energy projects by allowing developers to pay a fee for expedited reviews.
In the proposal, Republicans suggested allowing the Energy Department to deem a liquefied natural gas facility as a project in “the public interest” if applicants pay a million-dollar fee. Additionally, developers looking to secure permits for other natural gas projects can receive expedited permits from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission if they pay 1% of their expected cost of construction or $10 million.
The legislation would also pull back millions of dollars of congressionally appropriated funding outside of the IRA from various offices and programs, including more than $60 million from the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, over $53 million from the Federal Energy Management Program, over $262 million from the Office of State and Community Energy Programs, and over $401 million from the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
“This bill would claw back money headed for green boondoggles through ‘environmental and climate justice block grants’ and other spending mechanisms through the Environmental Protection Agency and Energy Department,” House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-KY) said in the Wall Street Journal on Sunday.
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“The legislation would reverse the most reckless parts of the engorged climate spending in the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act, returning $6.5 billion in unspent funds,” he added. “The bill would also begin refilling the dangerously low Strategic Petroleum Reserve.”
The committee is slated to meet Tuesday to mark up the legislation.
