John,

It’s September, and negotiations over the size and scope of the budget reconciliation are moving forward. Democratic leaders aim to have the package ready to hit the House and Senate floors by September 15th, though this is not a hard and fast deadline.

1. THE FATE OF RECONCILIATION

On the heels of an economic recession, an ongoing COVID crisis, and natural disasters that have struck the country from coast to coast, now’s the time for the US to make a historic investment in our clean energy infrastructure to ensure we emerge from this pandemic stronger, cleaner, and healthier than before.

The reconciliation bill only requires 50 votes to pass in the Senate, and because no Republicans will vote for it, pundits are spilling barrels of virtual ink speculating on all of the ways the Democratic majority might fail to pull this off. Just as with the bipartisan infrastructure deal, reporters will pronounce reconciliation dead a dozen times. We’re confident that, in the end, just as with infrastructure, this reconciliation bill will get signed into law.

One key reason for our optimism is that there’s more agreement than disagreement among Democrats on what needs to get done. This is particularly true of climate. For example, Senator Joe Manchin has made it clear he believes climate change is a global issue that the United States must not only act on domestically, but lead globally. And just this past week, Representatives Murphy (D-FL) and Cuellar (D-TX) wrote to Democratic leaders indicating that “climate deserves a different standard, because the costs of inaction are huge yet difficult for congressional budget analysts to quantify.”

2. WHAT WE’RE WATCHING IN COMMITTEE MARKUPS

House Committees have started marking up the budget reconciliation. 
 
Several key climate and energy provisions will come up early next week in the Energy & Commerce, Transportation & Infrastructure, and Ways and Means Committees. 
 
The House Energy & Commerce Committee has already released an outline of the key provisions in its portion of the reconciliation bill, which includes a $150 billion Clean Electricity Performance Program to move electricity suppliers to increase their share of clean energy. 
 
We’re hoping the final package will include:

• A fully funded CEPP
• The expansion and extension of tax credits to support clean energy manufacturing, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, sustainable aviation fuels, clean hydrogen, direct air capture, and more
• Additional lending authority for the DOE’s Loan Programs Office
• Increased transparency of embodied carbon emissions through the creation of an EPA grant program that provides financial and technical assistance to small businesses

3. RURAL COMMUNITIES NEED BETTER TRANSPORTATION POLICY

There’s been a lot of buzz on the impact the infrastructure deal could have on urban and suburban transportation. But there hasn’t been as much attention on how it could also improve the lives of rural Americans by helping them access the things they need while also taking shorter—or fewer—car trips. It has the added benefit of helping reduce rural America’s already small transportation emissions footprint.
 
Our new report with Transportation for America describes how rural car travel has increased over the past two decades and how we can maximize infrastructure investments to improve the quality of life for rural Americans by:

• Investing heavily in transit in rural areas
• Connecting rural communities by investing in broadband access
• Recalibrating federal agency policies and grant programs to better support rural towns

Read T4A’s Steve Davis’ assessment on Twitter here.

4. UPCOMING EVENTS

Join us on September 22 for Climate Action Week! Firm Energy Sources: How the US and Europe are Financing the Path to Net-Zero will explore how the US and Europe are financing emerging clean energy technologies to support the development of “firm” energy sources as a complement to renewables. Register here.

5. WHAT WE'RE READING

• Energy Innovation conducted a meta-analysis of 11 clean energy policy models, including our own Decarb America research, and found that all are in consensus that we can feasibly and affordably reach 80% clean electricity by 2030. Not only will reaching 80% clean electricity by 2030 help us meet our national climate goals, but it will also be deeply beneficial to the economy and public health—all without compromising power system reliability. 
• After several weeks of debate surrounding the viability of hydrogen as a clean energy source, Clean Air Task Force explains why we need blue hydrogen and how we can produce it the right way as a critical piece of our decarbonization strategy.
• David Roberts hosted Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) on his Volts podcast to discuss the importance of the Clean Electricity Payment Program. Senator Smith has been a climate and clean energy champion in the Senate, and we’re so grateful for her leadership in moving forward the CEPP to ensure we reduce our carbon emissions and reach 80% clean electricity by 2030.