The letter urges the move to “avoid future politicization or manipulation of climate programs,” before President-elect Donald Trump and a Republican-led Congress take over in 2025.
The president can do this “by working over the next few weeks to obligate funding from the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,” the lawmakers wrote.
“Obligating” the funds would make it more difficult to redirect the money, likely requiring an act of Congress to do so.
The lawmakers seek funding for programs across a broad range of governmental agencies, including the Department of Energy, Department of Agriculture, Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Treasury, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Postal Service.
Another $19.5 billion will be granted over the coming years for “climate-smart agriculture and forestry mitigation activities,” the statement reads.
John Podesta, senior adviser for international climate policy, told Reuters on Dec. 3 that the Biden administration had crossed the threshold of $100 billion in grants through this legislation.
Signatories of the letter included Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), sponsors of the 2019 Green New Deal resolution, which called on the federal government to take a broader role in tackling climate change.
That resolution was brought to the Senate floor by then-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, but failed. All Republicans, joined by four Democrats, voted no. The other Democrats voted “present.”
Similar resolutions have been tried since, without success. Ocasio-Cortez earlier this year announced a rebranding of the program as the Green New Deal for Public Housing.
Co-sponsored by another signer, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), that program seeks to secure $162 billion to $234 billion to renovate public housing units, making them more energy efficient and generating “green” jobs in the process.
