Republican attacks on climate funding are perfect targets for activists and 'Bidenomics' tour

Joan McCarter explored the cuts extremist Republicans want to inflict on the budget and the nation in her piece today, titled “Republicans are jeopardizing pretty much everything.” They propose a litany of destructiveness. 

Among the many hoped-for cuts are those related to climate and energy in the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act . No surprise, of course. The count of Senate and House Republicans with a history of rejecting climate science is still 149, more than half the GOP’s congressional total. Just 13 House Republicans voted for the Infrastructure Act, and none of them nor any Senate Republicans voted for the Inflation Reduction Act. The funding for these two laws has been on the GOP target list ever since, as E&E News has been regularly chronicling.

Kristopher Tigue at Inside Climate News noted Tuesday:

Last week, the Clean Budget Coalition—a watchdog group composed of environmental advocacy nonprofits, including the Environmental Defense Fund, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Union of Concerned Scientists—said it found at least 17 “poison pill” amendments to appropriations bills that would block clean energy funding and impede federal efforts to address global warming.

“The climate poison pills Republican budget leaders proposed are unsound, and they show that GOP leadership is not serious about working with Democrats to pass a budget and prevent a government shutdown,” Elizabeth Gore, senior vice president for political affairs at Environmental Defense Fund, said in a press release. “Their proposed budget, because of these poison pills and cuts to critical clean energy programs, would harm public health and raise energy costs for families and businesses. This is not a starting point for any reasonable negotiations.”