The Climate Crisis
Democrats strongly believe in our responsibility to address the climate crisis head-on and to serve as stewards of our environment and public lands for current and future generations. Democrats are working with President Biden to restore protections for our environment and natural resources, promote cleaner air and water, and ensure America is a leader in confronting the climate crisis. During the 117th Congress, House Democrats delivered a historic slate of legislation to address the climate crisis. These include the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law enacted in November 2021, a generational infrastructure package that is estimated to create nearly 1.5 million jobs annually throughout the next decade, turbocharge our clean energy economy, and take action on environmental justice and legacy pollution initiatives. The landmark Inflation Reduction Act is America’s single-largest investment in combatting the climate crisis and puts the U.S. on a path to roughly 40% emissions reduction by 2030. It includes historic investments in the clean energy economy that will lower energy costs, increase our energy security, and substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This legislation also promotes alternative energy and electric vehicle production. The CHIPS and Science Act, signed into law by President Biden in August 2022, invests in science and technology of the future, bolstering efforts to manufacture clean energy technology in the United States and providing access to training programs that will help to develop the STEM workforce of tomorrow. House Democrats also passed a number of bills that act to protect and conserve our planet, including the Wildfire Response and Drought Resiliency Act, the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, the Water Resources Development Act, and the Protecting America's Wilderness and Public Lands Act. In addition, House Democrats overturned a dangerous methane emissions rule put into place by the Trump Administration. We will continue to partner with the Biden Administration to combat catastrophic climate change and protect our natural resources for future generations.
Today, the President came to Maryland to reiterate his commitment to an all-of-the-above strategy to combat rising energy costs. He is right to say that there is no one silver bullet that will bring down the price of oil or gasoline, but that we ought to keep building on the gains we have made over the past three years in increasing domestic energy production and making investments in new vehicle, alternative fuel, and energy production technologies that harness power from solar, wind, and biofuels. This Administration has already made significant progress in reducing our dependence on foreign sources of oil, and we now import less than half the oil we consume. At the same time, millions of acres in this country are now open to new oil and natural gas exploration.
Wanted to make sure you saw this Washington Post article from Dana Milbank on the Republican distortions on gas prices.
Democrats are committed to an all-of-the-above energy strategy, while Republicans seem to be committed to little more than drilling and distorting the facts.
Today the President announced measures to help businesses and consumers upgrade to advanced vehicles, moving us closer to energy independence and economic security. This initiative is one step our nation can take to maintain our edge in innovation, which is a key part of House Democrats’ Make It In America plan to create jobs and strengthen American manufacturing. Innovation, especially in clean energy technologies, will help fuel our long-term economic competitiveness and add jobs in new and expanding sectors. It is an essential component of the all-of-the-above energy strategy being pursued by the President and Democrats in Congress to ensure that this nation has sufficient energy available to meet its needs today and for many years to come.
Democrats are committed to an “all-of-the-above” energy policy that increases drilling safely and responsibly and invests in alternative energy technologies, such as those that harness energy from wind, solar, and biofuel sources. Meanwhile, Republicans are protecting tax breaks for Big Oil and attempting to dismantle protections against speculation in the oil markets. Their “drill-only” approach to rising gas prices will not help American families.
We are also helping American families keep more of their hard-earned money through increased energy savings. Ambitious vehicle fuel economy standards set last year will cut oil consumption by 12 billion barrels and save American families $1.7 trillion over the next ten years. The announcement today by the President of a $30 million investment in adavanced energy research is good news for middle class families and American businesses that rely on cars and trucks each day, because it represents another important step forward toward ensuring us access to the affordable energy that will drive our prosperity for generations. Today’s announcement will help us harness the most important resource of all: American ingenuity.
Just a quick note for Speaker Boehner: When it comes to your behemoth of a highway bill, the problem is your policies, not the process. Republicans are scrambling to split the bill into parts to make it more palatable to Republicans already skeptical of the measure, but that won’t change the fact that the bill destroys 550,000 jobs, bankrupts the highway trust fund by 2016 and leaves our roads and bridges woefully underfunded.
Over the past year, House Republicans have claimed over and over again that their focus is on jobs and the economy. Unfortunately, their record doesn’t match up with their rhetoric.
Tonight the President will deliver his State of the Union address to Congress, and discuss his “Blueprint for an America Built to Last,” a plan that will emphasize four pillars to support economic revitalization: American values, American manufacturing, American energy and skills for American workers. These pillars line up with House Democrats’ Make It In America plan, which aims to support job creation by cultivating an encouraging environment for businesses to innovate and make products here in the U.S.
It has now been two days since House Republicans said an emphatic no to the bipartisan compromise and walked away from America’s working people. While Democrats have spent that time trying to get a vote to avoid the tax hike, Republicans have been arguing about process and politics.
As we look back on the first session of the 112th Congress, it’s clear that Republicans have taken little action on Americans top priorities: job creation, economic growth, and deficit reduction. With Christmas just a couple of weeks away and millions of children sending their Christmas lists to Santa, Democrats have put together our own wish list for next year.