House Republicans Advance Energy and Water Funding Bill that Raises Costs for Families

WASHINGTON — During today’s House Appropriations Subcommittee markup of the 2024 Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies funding bill, House Republicans passed a bill that reneges on the debt limit agreement that was just signed into law, raises costs for families, and weakens energy security and our ability to out-compete China.

For 2024, the Energy and Water bill provides $55.2 billion, a decrease of $3.9 billion or 6.5 percent below 2023. Further, the bill’s domestic allocation is effectively 21.5 percent, $5.4 billion, below 2023 while its defense allocation is 3.5 percent, $1.1 billion, above 2023, creating a further disparity between domestic and defense programs. The legislation:

• Increases energy costs by cutting and rescinding the Department of Energy’s clean energy programs that lower American families’ energy bills.
• Jeopardizes energy security by enabling Russia to continue weaponizing energy to destabilize global markets.
• Hurts United States’ competitiveness by allowing competitors like China to monopolize markets for new energy technology.
• Fails to confront the climate crisis and create better-paying, clean energy jobs.

“The Department of Energy has proven time and again that they know how to drive down the costs of clean energy technologies, which reduces every day energy costs to the benefit of Americans nationwide, creating good-paying jobs for the hardworking men and women of our country while uplifting families,” Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Marcy Kaptur (D-OH-09) said. “I am disappointed that this bill makes deep cuts to efforts to deploy clean energy technologies throughout America that reduce burdensome energy costs on families and seniors, especially those struggling to make ends meet. Extreme budget cuts impede these important initiatives, resulting in higher energy costs and increased dependence on foreign adversaries for energy supplies. Republicans can't have it both ways when it comes to energy independence — if they cut spending at home, it will only increase our dependence on foreign energy sources from abroad.”

Congresswoman Kaptur’s full remarks as prepared for delivery are here.

“My goals for the 2024 Energy and Water bill are to lower energy bills for American families, create jobs by growing and supporting a robust manufacturing sector, promote American energy independence, and out-compete China. But that is not what this bill does,” Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) said. “The majority has put forth a bill that increases energy costs for American families, undermines growth and modernization of our energy infrastructure, weakens our national security, and would yield leading the world’s energy future to the Chinese Community Party. We have no choice but to aggressively transform our energy sector to reflect our climate reality. The best path – the only path – that addresses climate change, reduces our dependence on fossil fuels, and ends our reliance on foreign energy to is to diversify how we produce and store energy. And if the proposed abandonment of America’s energy future and debasement of our ability to build a diverse, robust, and diversified energy industry were not enough reason to vote against this bill, then the offensive riders that will never see the light of day should be.”  

Congresswoman DeLauro’s full remarks as prepared for delivery are here.

Key provisions of the bill can be found here. The text of the draft bill is here. Information on Community Project Funding in the bill is here.

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