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Activists hold signs ahead of the vote on the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 in the House of Representatives outside the US Capitol in Washington, D.C., on August 12, 2022.
(Photo: Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)
'Oligarchy In Action': Energy Portion of House Budget Bill Slammed as Gift to Big Oil
"The idea that corporate polluters can pay a fee to freely pollute our communities is beyond the pale," said one environmental advocate.
May 12, 2025
Lawmakers and green groups on Monday sounded the alarm on the energy and environmental provisions in the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee's section of a Republican-backed tax and spending megabill, which is slated to be marked up in a committee meeting on Tuesday.
Critics are warning the proposal will harm regular Americans by seeking savings through a take back of funds from various programs in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the signature climate legislation signed into law under former U.S. President Joe Biden, and includes "giveaways" for oil and gas companies.
Congressional Republicans are pressing ahead with a spending and tax cuts bill that will primarily benefit the wealthy and would be paid for in part through steep cuts to Medicaid, despite widespread opposition. Those cuts were first fleshed out in a House budget blueprint earlier this year and are part of the budget bill from the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the text of which was unveiled on Sunday. But Medicaid cuts are not the only aspect of the bill drawing scrutiny.
"Giving giant tax breaks to billionaires while increasing electric bills for American families is wrong. Republicans are sacrificing America's energy dominance while setting up a 'pay to play' scheme for polluters to bribe the Trump Administration to obtain energy permits," said Energy Subcommittee ranking member Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) on Monday. "Dismantling our landmark Inflation Reduction Act will kill jobs, hurt businesses, and drive-up Americans' energy costs."
The legislation includes a provision that would allow energy developers to access an expedited permitting review if they pay $10 million or one percent of the anticipated cost of the construction of the project.
Another provision would have companies applying to export or import natural gas pay a nonrefundable $1 million fee and in return have their project "deemed to be in the public interest."
"The idea that corporate polluters can pay a fee to freely pollute our communities is beyond the pale," said Mahyar Sorour, a director of the Beyond Fossil Fuels Policy at the Sierra Club, on Monday.
"While it slashes much-needed support for clean energy and climate resilience, it would allow fossil fuel companies to pay to get their project approved. That's not just wrong, it's un-American," said Alexandra Adams, chief policy advocacy officer at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
According to E&E News, the legislation aims to rescind "the unobligated balance" of IRA funds for multiple Department of Energy programs, such as money meant for the Tribal Energy Loan Guarantee Program.
"Republicans just proposed cutting thousands of jobs, billions of dollars in clean energy funding, and billions of dollars in healthcare funding from their own districts. Why? Because Big Oil and healthcare CEOs told them to. This is not how a democracy should function. This is oligarchy in action," said Sunrise Movement executive director Aru Shiney-Ajay in a statement on Monday.
"Young people fought tooth and nail for the funding now on the chopping block," added Shiney-Ajay, invoking the organizing and activism that went into pressuring lawmakers to pass the IRA.
Republicans are also planning to rescind the unobligated balances from the Environmental Protection Agency's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, an IRA program that is supposed to support clean energy projects primarily for historically marginalized and low-income communities, per E&E.
What's more, according to E&E, the plan would go after a variety of IRA programs, such as those designed to reduce air pollution at schools and ports and limit emissions from diesel engines. Also it takes aim at the IRA's methane fee, which levies a fee on oil and gas companies who produce too much planet-warming methane.
"House Republicans are bending over backwards to give handouts to big polluters while their constituents pay the price of worse pollution and higher energy bills," said Sorour. "This is a terrible bill for the American people. The House should get their priorities straight and reject this proposal."
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Lawmakers and green groups on Monday sounded the alarm on the energy and environmental provisions in the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee's section of a Republican-backed tax and spending megabill, which is slated to be marked up in a committee meeting on Tuesday.
Critics are warning the proposal will harm regular Americans by seeking savings through a take back of funds from various programs in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the signature climate legislation signed into law under former U.S. President Joe Biden, and includes "giveaways" for oil and gas companies.
Congressional Republicans are pressing ahead with a spending and tax cuts bill that will primarily benefit the wealthy and would be paid for in part through steep cuts to Medicaid, despite widespread opposition. Those cuts were first fleshed out in a House budget blueprint earlier this year and are part of the budget bill from the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the text of which was unveiled on Sunday. But Medicaid cuts are not the only aspect of the bill drawing scrutiny.
"Giving giant tax breaks to billionaires while increasing electric bills for American families is wrong. Republicans are sacrificing America's energy dominance while setting up a 'pay to play' scheme for polluters to bribe the Trump Administration to obtain energy permits," said Energy Subcommittee ranking member Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) on Monday. "Dismantling our landmark Inflation Reduction Act will kill jobs, hurt businesses, and drive-up Americans' energy costs."
The legislation includes a provision that would allow energy developers to access an expedited permitting review if they pay $10 million or one percent of the anticipated cost of the construction of the project.
Another provision would have companies applying to export or import natural gas pay a nonrefundable $1 million fee and in return have their project "deemed to be in the public interest."
"The idea that corporate polluters can pay a fee to freely pollute our communities is beyond the pale," said Mahyar Sorour, a director of the Beyond Fossil Fuels Policy at the Sierra Club, on Monday.
"While it slashes much-needed support for clean energy and climate resilience, it would allow fossil fuel companies to pay to get their project approved. That's not just wrong, it's un-American," said Alexandra Adams, chief policy advocacy officer at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
According to E&E News, the legislation aims to rescind "the unobligated balance" of IRA funds for multiple Department of Energy programs, such as money meant for the Tribal Energy Loan Guarantee Program.
"Republicans just proposed cutting thousands of jobs, billions of dollars in clean energy funding, and billions of dollars in healthcare funding from their own districts. Why? Because Big Oil and healthcare CEOs told them to. This is not how a democracy should function. This is oligarchy in action," said Sunrise Movement executive director Aru Shiney-Ajay in a statement on Monday.
"Young people fought tooth and nail for the funding now on the chopping block," added Shiney-Ajay, invoking the organizing and activism that went into pressuring lawmakers to pass the IRA.
Republicans are also planning to rescind the unobligated balances from the Environmental Protection Agency's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, an IRA program that is supposed to support clean energy projects primarily for historically marginalized and low-income communities, per E&E.
What's more, according to E&E, the plan would go after a variety of IRA programs, such as those designed to reduce air pollution at schools and ports and limit emissions from diesel engines. Also it takes aim at the IRA's methane fee, which levies a fee on oil and gas companies who produce too much planet-warming methane.
"House Republicans are bending over backwards to give handouts to big polluters while their constituents pay the price of worse pollution and higher energy bills," said Sorour. "This is a terrible bill for the American people. The House should get their priorities straight and reject this proposal."
Lawmakers and green groups on Monday sounded the alarm on the energy and environmental provisions in the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee's section of a Republican-backed tax and spending megabill, which is slated to be marked up in a committee meeting on Tuesday.
Critics are warning the proposal will harm regular Americans by seeking savings through a take back of funds from various programs in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the signature climate legislation signed into law under former U.S. President Joe Biden, and includes "giveaways" for oil and gas companies.
Congressional Republicans are pressing ahead with a spending and tax cuts bill that will primarily benefit the wealthy and would be paid for in part through steep cuts to Medicaid, despite widespread opposition. Those cuts were first fleshed out in a House budget blueprint earlier this year and are part of the budget bill from the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the text of which was unveiled on Sunday. But Medicaid cuts are not the only aspect of the bill drawing scrutiny.
"Giving giant tax breaks to billionaires while increasing electric bills for American families is wrong. Republicans are sacrificing America's energy dominance while setting up a 'pay to play' scheme for polluters to bribe the Trump Administration to obtain energy permits," said Energy Subcommittee ranking member Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) on Monday. "Dismantling our landmark Inflation Reduction Act will kill jobs, hurt businesses, and drive-up Americans' energy costs."
The legislation includes a provision that would allow energy developers to access an expedited permitting review if they pay $10 million or one percent of the anticipated cost of the construction of the project.
Another provision would have companies applying to export or import natural gas pay a nonrefundable $1 million fee and in return have their project "deemed to be in the public interest."
"The idea that corporate polluters can pay a fee to freely pollute our communities is beyond the pale," said Mahyar Sorour, a director of the Beyond Fossil Fuels Policy at the Sierra Club, on Monday.
"While it slashes much-needed support for clean energy and climate resilience, it would allow fossil fuel companies to pay to get their project approved. That's not just wrong, it's un-American," said Alexandra Adams, chief policy advocacy officer at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
According to E&E News, the legislation aims to rescind "the unobligated balance" of IRA funds for multiple Department of Energy programs, such as money meant for the Tribal Energy Loan Guarantee Program.
"Republicans just proposed cutting thousands of jobs, billions of dollars in clean energy funding, and billions of dollars in healthcare funding from their own districts. Why? Because Big Oil and healthcare CEOs told them to. This is not how a democracy should function. This is oligarchy in action," said Sunrise Movement executive director Aru Shiney-Ajay in a statement on Monday.
"Young people fought tooth and nail for the funding now on the chopping block," added Shiney-Ajay, invoking the organizing and activism that went into pressuring lawmakers to pass the IRA.
Republicans are also planning to rescind the unobligated balances from the Environmental Protection Agency's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, an IRA program that is supposed to support clean energy projects primarily for historically marginalized and low-income communities, per E&E.
What's more, according to E&E, the plan would go after a variety of IRA programs, such as those designed to reduce air pollution at schools and ports and limit emissions from diesel engines. Also it takes aim at the IRA's methane fee, which levies a fee on oil and gas companies who produce too much planet-warming methane.
"House Republicans are bending over backwards to give handouts to big polluters while their constituents pay the price of worse pollution and higher energy bills," said Sorour. "This is a terrible bill for the American people. The House should get their priorities straight and reject this proposal."
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