$3.5 Trillion Budget Could Bring Climate Change-Fighting Policies

“The House must pass the budget resolution immediately,” said House Speaker Nancy Policy to U.S. House of Representatives Democrats this month. “Doing so will maximize the leverage of our caucus in the budget process, allowing us to proceed first in crafting the [budget] reconciliation bill.”

Pelosi has been working to gain Democrat support regarding a $3.5 trillion budget plan to boost the agenda of the Biden Administration–an agenda including major topics like greenhouse gas reduction and social aid programs and policies. Pelosi also says she’s working toward connecting the budget reconciliation legislation with a previously-passed $1 trillion infrastructure bill.

House Democratic leaders are expected to start discussions of these budget plans with their committees ahead of scheduled voting.

“Our caucus remains united in realizing President Biden’s vision to build back better: creating more jobs, cutting taxes, and lowering health care costs for working families,” Pelosi added. “While the bipartisan [Senate] infrastructure bill offers important progress, it is not reflective of the totality of Democrats’ vision.”

The chamber’s transportation committee is likely to help advance policies within these budget plans as they pertain to severe-weather resilience infrastructure, noted top transportation policymaker of the House, Representative Peter DeFazio of Oregon.

“I have consistently advocated for increased federal investment in America’s infrastructure,” he said. “By investing in our infrastructure, we can create good-paying jobs, support American manufacturing, stop sending jobs to China, and strengthen the economy.”

Safer infrastructure and climate crisis-fighting policies will be DeFazio’s main focus, he added.

“I’m committed to continuing to fight for transformational funding and policies in the [budget] reconciliation process that will reduce carbon pollution from the transportation sector, support American manufacturing and ingenuity, and create infrastructure that is smarter, safer, and made to last,” he said.

Committees will now work to configure a $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation plan after the Senate offered partisan budget package approval; committees will be expected to develop their budget bill portion by mid-September, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer noted. This bill in particular is also sponsored by Bernie Sanders, Budget Committee Chairman.

“We will take on the existential threat of climate change by transforming our energy systems toward renewable energy and energy efficiency,” Sanders said. “With Democrats in control of the Senate, we will use reconciliation to benefit the working class.”

The reconciliation measure within the legislative packages presented by congressional committees will aim to require a simple majority for passage and avoid a Senate filibuster. The Senate’s budget assignment will require further investments in electric vehicle charging infrastructure, severe-weather infrastructure, environmental research programs, and emission technologies to be proposed by the panels which have jurisdiction over highways and freight affairs.

In fact, the Senate Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over trucking policy, will be urged to recommend investments of $83 billion in research, manufacturing, economic development, transportation technologies, and coastal infrastructure projects.

For fuel-efficient port construction, environmental justice projects, energy-efficient building construction, climate equity programs, and alternative energy vehicle investments, the Environment and Public Works Committee is also required to propose a $67 billion plan. The Environment and Public Works Committee has jurisdiction over surface transportation policy.

Significant Diesel Emissions Reduction Act funding has also received backing from the Environmental and Public Works panel, the leaders of which claim that this funding will be “a strong federal commitment to state and local air quality grant programs as a mechanism to assist state and local governments in implementing and complying with federal environmental requirements.”

These budget plans have received strong backing from the chairman of the Environment and Public Works panel, Senator Tom Carper of Delaware.

“We move forward with a budget that helps working families in Delaware and across the country, and we should pay for these investments with smart, common-sense policies that ensure that the wealthiest among us are paying their fair share,” he explained. “In the days ahead, we’ll need to get to work on legislation laid out in the budget that will tackle the climate crisis, create good-paying jobs, advance environmental justice, and build a better, brighter future for all Americans.”