Date: Friday, May 12, 2023
To: President Joe Biden
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer
United States Senate
322 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries
United States House of Representatives
1607 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
President Biden, Leader Schumer, and Leader Jeffries:
Together with Congress, the Biden administration has secured a historical string of legislative victories in the fight against climate change. We strongly oppose any efforts to roll back these clean energy investments as part of a deal to increase the debt ceiling. Doing so would damage the U.S. economy, undo transformational investments made to address the climate crisis, harm frontline communities disproportionately impacted by pollution, and will be judged harshly by our stakeholders as well as future generations.
With the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), America took a decisive step toward the urgent and inevitable clean energy future. President Biden and the 117th Congress demonstrated unprecedented leadership in revitalizing America’s industrial economy. The IRA and IIJA have unleashed a cascade of private sector investment and innovation, buoyed by long-term policy support. Together with the CHIPS Act, these laws have catalyzed an astounding $200 billion of investment into the U.S. economy – including more than $65 billion since the end of last summer.1 America is now a global mecca for clean energy investment. This capital brings with it good blue-collar jobs, security from the turbulence of global resource markets, and renewed international status for America as a global leader in 21st-century energy technology.
IIJA and IRA programs will also redress historical policies that have resulted in tens of millions of Americans lacking access to clean and affordable mobility; being suffocated by air pollution and extreme heat; and being vulnerable to drought and other disasters supercharged by climate change.
Now is the time to double down on America’s clean energy ambitions. Since peaking in 1979, U.S. manufacturing jobs have fallen by 33%2 while America’s population has increased by 47%. During that same timeframe, global atmospheric CO2 concentrations have grown from 336 parts per million (ppm) to 421 (ppm). 3 Nine of the last 10 years have been among the hottest 10 years on record.4 Abroad, hostile petro states rely on oil and gas to fund wars of aggression. The Biden Administration's clean energy investments address all of these challenges head-on. They will unshackle economic growth, create well-paid jobs, reduce America’s reliance on foreign oil, and address myriad environmental inequities and the smoldering crisis of climate change.
By staying the course in clean energy, the United States has a chance to become a “clean energy superpower.” Undermining the IRA and IIJA will make America weaker, not stronger. It will cast uncertainty on hundreds of billions of dollars already dedicated to support the transition to a clean energy future.
We urge Democratic leadership to keep holding the line. We resolutely oppose any repeal of climate and clean energy spending as part of a deal to raise the debt ceiling.
Sincerely,
Ample Arrival
East Metro Strong
Einride
Electrification Coalition
Environmental Defense Fund
Environmental Law & Policy Center
Evergreen Action
Forth
GreenLatinos
itselectric
League of Conservation Voters (LCV)
Lion Electric
Mobilify Southwestern Pennsylvania
Moms Clean Air Force
National Consumer Law Center, on behalf of its low-income clients
NRDC
Plug In America
Sierra Club
Tri-State Transportation Campaign
Voices for Progress
1 The Economist, “America’s chance to become a clean-energy superpower” (April 2023) https://www.economist.com/united-states/2023/04/05/americas-chance-to-become-a-clean-energy-superpo wer
2 The United Stated Bureau of Labor Statistics (May 2023) https://data.bls.gov/pdq/SurveyOutputServlet
3 The Global Monitoring Laboratory (GML) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (May 2023) https://gml.noaa.gov/webdata/ccgg/trends/co2/co2_annmean_mlo.txt
4 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration “2022 was world’s 6th-warmest year on record” (January 2023) https://www.noaa.gov/news/2022-was-worlds-6th-warmest-year-on-record