Biden’s Budget Invests Billions in Green Energy; House GOP Says Will Lead to Higher Costs

President Joe Biden’s Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24), $6.9 Trillion budget request maintains the green energy emphasises established by the adoptions of Infrastructure Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Act. It also increases spending for combating climate change. “climate crisis” 26 percent

Biden’s FY24 budget request, released March 9—more than a month late in the annual budget cycle—invests $52.2 billion “to tackle the climate crisis,” Nearly $11 billion more than Congress gave him in his FY23 Budget.

Before FY24 starts on October 1, 2023, the spring and summer will be used to review budget requests at committee hearings.

With Republicans now ruling the House, one chamber panel certain to give a heave-ho to the president’s sustained emphasis on renewable energies is the House Energy & Commerce, which has its own 20-bill ‘unleash America’s energy’ slate calling for expanding domestic oil and gas production.

“President Biden’s energy crisis means higher costs for farmers … and higher costs at the grocery store for everyone,” Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Chair of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, tweeted her reaction to Biden’s budget announcement at a Philadelphia press conference.

The House Energy & Commerce Committee “is leading on solutions today to reverse the damage of [Biden’s] war on American energy,” She continued.

Green Energy Emphasis

Biden’s budget request also includes $16.5 billion to climate science and clean-energy research, $23 billion to strengthen community resilience against flooding, wildfires and storms, and $4.5 billion to support clean energy workforce projects and infrastructure projects such as weatherizing low-income households, improving local electric grids and expanding permits for offshore wind farms.

The FY23 budget request was accompanied by a White House Factsheet. According to this Fact Sheet, the administration says that since its inception, it has put emphasis on the “climate crisis” It has “boosted U.S. manufacturing” And the “deployment of cost-cutting clean energy technologies” That is the way it has been for the nation. “on a durable path” In sustaining domestic energy independence, while simultaneously meeting the Paris Climate Accords goal of reducing greenhouse gases pollution by 50-52% compared to 2005 levels by 2030.

After the November 2021 passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, the White House maintained that the Inflation Reduction Act had been adopted. “the largest investment to advance energy security and combat climate change in American history,” The administration will continue to implement their initiatives. “clean energy transition and making clean and energy efficient technologies more affordable for American families,” It was.

According to the administration’s proposal budget, federal funding will be continued to be allocated for “jumpstarting an electric transportation future that is ‘Made in America,’ new climate-smart agriculture and forestry initiatives, to ensuring 40 percent of the federal investments in climate and clean energy are delivered to disadvantaged communities.”

From the $4.5 Billion committed “building clean energy infrastructure,” Nearly $50 million has been allocated to the Department of Energy (DOE), Solar Energy Technology Office “to assist communities and low-income households in continuing to decrease the cost of installing rooftop solar and solar plus storage on homes across the country.”

‘Clean Energy Workforce’

The administration has approved the budget proposal “would cut energy bills for American families so that they pay less each month” By investing in a “clean energy workforce” to do:

— $1.8 billion in work on low-income Americans’ homes, including $375 million for weatherization assistance grants;

— nearly $750 million in work to support energy efficiency and resilience in federal-assisted and financed developments;

— $800 million in work for the U.S. Health & Human Services Department’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program;

— $50 million to launch a new Energy Burden Reduction Pilot by DOE “to lower energy costs while also reducing emissions through efficiency, electrification, and distributed energy resource installation retrofits in at least 3,000 low-income households.”

The budget proposal includes $30 million in grants, and $1 billion to guarantee loans for clean energy systems.

Biden requests $6.5 billion for rural electric loans in his budget request “to support additional clean energy, energy storage, and transmission projects that would create good-paying jobs,” $15 million in funding to support the creation of a ‘Rural Clean Energy Initiative,’ and $75 million to accelerate “American manufacturing and deployment of clean energy technologies.”

“To build on the resurgence of American manufacturing, the budget complements funding provided in the Inflation Reduction Act by providing robust support” For loan programs “projects supporting the repurposing of legacy energy infrastructure, and advanced technology vehicle manufacturing projects.”

The DOE is allocated $1.2 billion in the budget. “hard to decarbonize industrial processes … through innovation, targeted investment, and technical assistance.

There is $64.4 million for the Environmental protection Agency (EPA) to implement the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act and “Continue to eliminate potent greenhouse gases known by hydrofluorocarbons” and “It invests in restoration of some of the most unique aquatic ecosystems in the country, including the Chesapeake Bay and Upper Mississippi Rivers, the Great Lakes and the Louisiana Coast.

House GOP: No Dice

As far as House Republicans are concerned, Biden’s budget was dead before arrival. The chamber’s Energy & Commerce Committee, shortly before the president revealed his spending plan adopted the proposed ‘Protecting American Energy Act’ sponsored by Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C) in a 29-19 vote.

Duncan’s measure is the first of a raft of bills that address securing “critical minerals,” advancing development of nuclear energy—both with bipartisan support—and expanding refinery and pipeline capacities for greater production and export of oil and natural gas, which is where committee members diverge by party affiliation.

Among bills that the committee expects to advance in March is HR 647, the proposed “Unlocking our Domestic LNG Potential Act of 2023,” sponsored by Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio), the proposed “Promoting Interagency Coordination for Review of Natural Gas Pipelines Act,” sponsored by Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas), the “Promoting Cross-Border Energy Infrastructure Act,” and a resolution “Expressing the sense of Congress that the Federal Government should not impose any restrictions on the export of crude oil or other petroleum products.”

“Biden’s “proposed budget would INCREASE the national debt and result in record-breaking deficit spending while putting even more financial pressure on Americans,” Burgess said via Twitter. “House Republicans are counteracting the Biden Admin’s efforts to stifle energy production with pro-energy legislation–like my Refiner Act–to unleash domestic energy production, lower costs, & secure our energy independence.”

Committee member Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) was particularly critical of Biden’s budget proposal in a series of tweets,

“If it weren’t for the Biden Administration’s backwards energy policies, the U.S. would be producing 2-3 million more barrels of oil per day – an added total of $100 billion in our GDP per year,” he said. “What’s the cause? The extreme measures this admin has implemented–canceled pipelines, reduced drilling on public lands, new taxes on the oil & gas industry, and ridiculous environmental standards that raise the cost of operating.”

Before Biden took office, Crenshaw said, U.S. producers were producing 13 million barrels of oil a day.

“Now? Roughly 11.6 million. That’s a significant decrease. And we’re feeling the pain at the pump,” he said. “This administration’s attacks on oil and gas have led us to prioritizing unreliable energy sources (like solar & wind), supplemented by dirty foreign oil & groveling to foreign leaders with worse environmental standards & labor records than our own. Let America prosper, @POTUS.”