When the Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law in August of 2022, it was the biggest, boldest climate legislation in U.S. history. It promised to accelerate the clean energy transition, create green jobs across the country, and invest in a healthier, more sustainable future.
Now those promises are at risk of being broken. The reconciliation bill that passed the House, if enacted, would unravel key provisions of the IRA, rescind billions in clean energy investments, slash funding for key climate programs at the EPA and Department of Energy, and pull the rug out from under American families and businesses that have begun to rely on clean energy tax credits.
It’s a dangerous step backward, and the New York League of Conservation Voters is urging lawmakers in the U.S. Senate to reject this reckless legislation and restore the critical climate measures the House is attempting to strip away.
To understand how we got to this point, and with such a narrowly divided Congress no less, it helps to understand exactly what a reconciliation bill is.
“Budget reconciliation is a legislative procedure made available as a result of the 1974 Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act,” states to the Bipartisan Policy Center website. “Reconciliation allows for expedited consideration of certain and specified changes in law to align spending, revenue, and the debt limit with agreed-upon budget targets.”
The website for House Budget Committee Ranking Member Brendan Boyle explains it this way: “If the budget calls for reconciliation, it tells certain committees to change spending, revenues, deficits, or the debt limit by specific amounts. […] Each committee writes a bill to achieve its target, and if more than one committee is told to act, the Budget Committee puts the bills together into one big bill.”
Like the budget itself, that bill cannot be filibustered in the Senate and only needs a simple majority to pass. That’s why the content of reconciliation bills matter so much, and why the version that passed the House this year is so alarming.
“Early Thursday morning, the House of Representatives passed a reconciliation bill on party lines that guts nearly all federal tax credits for clean energy production and adoption, and slashes funding for key climate programs at the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy,” NYLCV said in a statement following the vote. “This bill – worse than the initial proposal – would bring New York’s clean energy progress to a grinding halt. Families and businesses would face higher utility bills, a less dependable grid, and increased air pollution. We are especially disappointed that New York’s Republican representatives, who championed the clean energy tax credits, ultimately failed to protect them. The Senate must reject this reckless bill and we urge our entire delegation to fight to restore these provisions.”
Unfortunately, it didn’t end with the House’s reconciliation bill. Separately, the anti-environment majority in Congress also removed a key tool for states to rein in air pollution.
“Just as troubling, both chambers voted to rescind the California Clean Air Waiver – a dangerous attack on states’ rights and one that strips New York and more than a dozen other states of the ability to set stronger tailpipe emissions standards, which are essential to our clean transportation strategy,” the League’s statement continued.
“These actions are a direct assault on our health, our economy, and our climate future. At a time when we should be accelerating the transition to clean energy, Congress must not slam on the brakes.”