The House passed a nearly $57 billion appropriations bill Thursday to fund the departments of Energy and Interior along with other agencies, setting up a testy funding battle with the White House ahead of a Nov. 17 government shutdown.
The lower chamber passed the Energy and Water appropriations bill in a 210-199 vote after spending the past day debating and considering amendments. It is the fifth appropriations bill to pass the House.
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The bill, which stands to be roughly $7.5 billion below the White House’s budget request, makes several spending cuts that target many of the Biden administration’s climate and energy priorities, a theme accentuated on Thursday when an amendment to ban funding for the administration’s recently launched Climate Corps was adopted into the bill.
The amendment initially failed, but after several representatives pulled their accidental votes from the bill and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) didn’t participate in the second vote, the amendment was able to pass.
Appropriations subcommittee Chairman Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN) praised the bill on Wednesday night, touting the billions allocated toward nuclear energy, with funds set aside to beef up the National Nuclear Security Administration and domestically produce uranium.
Democrats, on the other hand, pushed back on the bill, arguing the measure doesn’t do enough to combat climate change while taxpayers are left footing the bill on disaster relief. During her floor remarks, subcommittee ranking member Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) raised objections to the bill cutting nuclear nonproliferation programs that aim to reduce global risk, as well as a number of what Democrats called “poison pills.”
“I must express the energy and water appropriations bill before us is completely inadequate and does not meet our country’s needs in this new era of climate change,” Kaptur said.
The bill also has several policy riders that take aim at the executive branch’s regulatory regime.
Most notably, the bill would take a whack at the Biden administration’s various energy efficiency regulations and programs, a continuous push from Republicans as they look to attack the Department of Energy for issuing rules regulating new household appliances coming to the market. On Thursday, several amendments were adopted to ban the funding of the DOE's conservation standards for appliances such as commercial ice makers, gas furnaces, and air conditioners.
Furthermore, the bill has a number of provisions that Democrats have deemed as “poison pills,” measures that take aim at the White House’s more liberal stances by blocking funds to initiatives related to environmental justice and critical race theory. The chamber adopted Thursday a measure that would prohibit funds for the DOE Office of Scientific Workforce Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
President Joe Biden already threatened to veto the bill earlier this month, reasoning that the measure falls flat of the spending levels negotiated in the debt limit deal between the White House and House Republicans and has a number of riders igniting ire from Democrats.
“House Republicans had an opportunity to engage in a productive, bipartisan appropriations process, but instead are wasting time with partisan bills that cut domestic spending to levels well below the FRA agreement and endanger critical services for the American people,” the White House statement reads. “These levels would result in deep cuts to clean energy programs and other programs that work to combat climate change, essential nutrition services, law enforcement, consumer safety, education, and healthcare.
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Another amendment that was adopted by the chamber Thursday would prohibit funds for the DOE’s implementation of its proposed Industrial Decarbonization Roadmap, which would create an agenda to identify pathways to reduce industrial emissions. Other provisions include banning funds for an interagency working group that considers the social cost of greenhouse gases and another prohibiting the consideration of the social cost of greenhouse gases in the development and implementation of budgets, federal procurement processes, or environmental reviews.
The House will still have to pass seven more appropriations bills, along with the Senate having to pass all 12 of theirs. Once both chambers are able to pass all 12, they will go to conference to wrinkle out any differences between the two versions.