By a vote of 209-204, the House passed legislation Friday to eliminate what critics call a green energy slush fund.
The Daily Signal first reported last year on the bill, called the Cutting Green Corruption and Taxes Act and sponsored by Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Ala., chairman of the Republican Policy Committee.
“This is a major step towards securing American energy and reducing energy costs. This is a win for the American people,” Palmer said Friday in a public statement.
However, the bill faces rough sledding in the Senate, where Democrats have a working majority with three independents.
The $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund was the largest grant program created in a massive spending bill, dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act, which passed in August 2022 when Democrats controlled both houses of Congress.
“This is nothing more than a slush fund that does nothing to aid the environment. Instead, it funds special-interest groups, climate activists, and political allies that make no impact on the climate,” said Palmer, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
“This bill eliminates $27 billion of waste and shifts the focus to where it should be, affordable and reliable American energy,” the Alabama Republican said after his legislation passed the House.
Palmer added:
In order to help the American people and lower energy costs, we should be focusing on expanding access to natural gas. Unfortunately, the Democrats’ IRA [Inflation Reduction Act] also implemented a tax on natural gas. This tax has made energy less affordable and less reliable for Americans already struggling under the weight of inflation.
The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund was designed to set up two pots of money: $20 billion for the General Assistance and Low-Income and Disadvantaged Communities Program, to be divided among up to 15 recipients, and $7 billion for the Zero-Emissions Technology Program, to be divided among 60 recipients.
The grants must align with the Biden administration’s Justice40 Initiative, which requires that 40% of overall spending in a federal initiative go to “disadvantaged communities.” The administration defines such communities as “marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution.”
The smaller, $7 billion pot is reserved for states, municipalities, tribal governments, and nonprofit organizations. The goal is to leverage private funding, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
The $20 billion pot is reserved for nonprofits that “collaborate with community financing institutions,” the EPA says.
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