Photo credit: Senate Democrats, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
On Wednesday, July 27, 2022, Senator Joe Manchin and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer reached an agreement to introduce the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
$369 billion of the proposed $739 billion Act addresses energy security and climate change. Senate Democrats say the Act promises to "bring down consumer energy costs, increase American energy security, while substantially reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The combined investments in the FY2022 Budget Reconciliation bill would put the U.S. on a path to roughly 40% emissions reduction by 2030, and would represent the single biggest climate investment in U.S. history, by far."
While climate change activists focus on measures to reduce carbon emissions but $300 billion of the Act deals with deficit reduction measures; 3 years of Affordable Care Act subsidies; prescription drug reform; and tax reform. The business-leaning National Law Review frames the Act as a "reinstatement of the full investment tax credit (ITC) rate of 30% and the production tax credit (PTC) rate of 1.5 cents per kWh (subject to inflationary adjustments) for projects on which construction begins before January 1, 2025." The conservative National Review points out that 'negotiations are likely incomplete" with Arizona senator Kyrsten Sinema and New Jersey senator Bob Menendez yet to indicate their positions on it,
From Citizen Climate Lobby:
Citizen Climate Lobby is strongly encouraging constituents to "ask your Democratic Reps to vote “yes” on the Senate version of budget reconciliation when it comes back to the House. We are only calling Democratic Representatives because Republican Representatives are not involved in budget reconciliation discussions. If you have a Republican Representative, you can skip ahead to the next step: spread the word."
"If you live in southern Oregon please call Senator Ron Wyden and Senator Jeff Merkley and ask that they support the budget resolution and its strong climate provisions.
Senator Jeff Merkley: 202-224-3753
Senator Ron Wyden: 202-224-5244
"Please take action now! The Senate could vote on this bill with in the week!
https://citizensclimatelobby.org/senate/ Then, follow the instruction to enter in your address to find your Senators. Once complete, the site will immediately follow up with a request to then call your Senators and leave a similar message. Calling is easy and powerful. It takes 1-2 minutes and you don't need to say more than you are comfortable with. You can also call our Senators directly at the numbers below, but we would prefer that you submit calls using our form so we can track how popular carbon pricing is."
"I'm an Oregonian and climate change is a priority issue for me.
I'm calling to urge you to support the Inflation Reduction Act and its strong climate provisions."
You can learn more about the legislation on the CCL website:
You can also read this Politico article.
After calling, please share with your friends!
Thank you for advocating for our planet!