Biden’s Budget Would Boost Climate Change Funding

April 9, 2021

President Joe Biden released the outlines of his first budget proposal to Congress, with a $1.5 trillion proposal calling for a significant increase in non-defense spending. As expected, it contains large increases in climate-change-related spending, on the order of $14 billion above the prior year’s levels.

Axios reports:

The various clean energy and climate provisions include, per the White House…

• Over $10 billion for “clean energy innovation,” typically a summary for research and development initiatives, which the White House claims is more than 35% above enacted levels during fiscal year 2021.
• $1 billion combined for a new, cross-agency Advanced Research Projects Agency for Climate, as well as the Energy Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy.
• $600 million for federal agencies to procure and deploy electric vehicles and charging infrastructure.
• $1.4 billion for various initiatives around environmental justice — that is, efforts to address the greater pollution burdens that poor and minority communities face. If enacted, this would be the most ever spent on environmental justice programs, a key priority for climate and progressive activists, with most of the increased spending going to the EPA.
• Over $550 million to clean up thousands of abandoned oil-and-gas wells and mines, a task the White House sees as job-creating.

It is clear the Biden administration will weave climate change provisions into any and every proposal they can.

Let us not forget Biden’s infrastructure plan unveiled last week that only had 25% of funding going toward infrastructure. Yet, had significant funding for climate change efforts that Power The Future recently discussed in a press release.

The plan includes $174 billion for electric vehicle incentives and new charging stations, $100 billion to update the power grid with more renewable sources, $46 billion for the federal government to buy electric vehicles, and $35 billion to research and development of green technology. Additionally, the package includes a clean electricity standard, which mandates a certain percentage of zero-carbon electricity generation. Sadly, less than 1 percent of this spending plan would go to helping fossil fuel workers who are displaced by the Biden Administration’s climate policies, like canceling the Keystone XL pipeline.

The Biden administration continues to sneak heavy-handed climate provisions into every proposal put forth with enormous price tags that will be pushed onto the American people. Even worse, these provisions will increase every American household’s energy bills and further push our energy dependence abroad. We hope Congress weighs in these burdens when considering these radical proposals.