Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) called on President Biden in a letter Wednesday to ensure climate-related Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) funds are disbursed before he leaves office in January.
Markey and Ocasio-Cortez, who co-sponsored the original Green New Deal resolution in Congress, have been vocal backers of the Biden administration on environmental policy, joining the president at an Earth Day event earlier this year to celebrate the establishment of the American Climate Corps. They were joined on the letter by Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.), Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s successor in the House.
The letter is also signed by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and 46 other House members, including Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl Grijalva (D-Az.).
“To avoid future politicization or manipulation of climate programs, we ask that your agencies move expeditiously to disburse key climate and clean energy programs at the White House and the Department of Energy (DOE), the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Transportation, the Department of the Treasury, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the General Services Administration, and the U.S. Postal Service,” the members wrote.
The members also wrote that they “support” the outgoing administration in releasing guidance for tax credits under the laws, some of which has not yet been published. While the letter does not identify those credits, the administration has yet to release guidance for hydrogen power tax credits or electric vehicle charger credits.
The letter does not mention President-elect Trump by name, but comes in the shadow of his denial of climate change and frequent disparagement of renewable energy. Trump has not signaled he will seek to reverse the IRA outright, but before the election, a coalition of vulnerable House Republicans called for him to consider preserving some of its tax credits for renewables in the event of a GOP trifecta.
While a full repeal of the law is likely to be a complex process that would encounter pushback due to potential job losses in Republican districts, the White House and Republican Congress would have broader latitude in determining how funds are disbursed, including altering eligibility criteria.
