In the dead of night, House Republicans did a sneaky favor for their Big Oil funders – and Americans will have to pay the price. This move may not make the news, but you deserve to know what happened. 

On Tuesday, the House Resources Committee marked up their portion of the GOP reconciliation package – with national parks, clean air and water protections, endangered species protections, public lands, and more all at stake. 

While Democrats fired off questions and proposed amendments holding oil, gas, and mining companies accountable, Republicans sat in silence, refusing to debate or defend their bill. And at the 11th hour, they dropped in an amendment to sell off over 10,000 acres of public lands to pay for Trump’s billionaire tax cuts. 

John, this may sound like hyperbole, but this bill just might be the most extreme, anti-environment legislation in American history. It combines these most extreme attacks on our natural resources with enormous cuts to Medicaid, Social Security, and other critical programs that American families depend on: a new low, even for this administration. 

SEEC’s 13 members on the House Resources Committee are sounding the alarms and fighting back: Ranking Member of the Committee Rep. Jared Huffman (CA-2) and his fellow SEEC members Reps. Yassamin Ansari (AZ-3), Julia Brownley (CA-26), Maxine Dexter (OR-3), Debbie Dingell (MI-12), Sarah Elfreth (MD-3), Val Hoyle (OR-4), Teresa Leger Fernández (NM-3), Seth Magaziner (RI-2), Dave Min (CA-47), Joe Neguse (CO-2), Darren Soto (FL-9), and Melanie Stansbury (NM-1). They and their 87 other SEEC colleagues are working around the clock to safeguard our climate future in their respective committees and caucuses. Will you rush a donation to power their urgent work and show them you have their backs in this historic moment?

Here’s a closer look just a few sections of this bill:

• Provides handouts to big oil and gas companies by letting them extract oil and gas at low, low prices at the expense of taxpayers.
   
• Gives polluters “get out of jail free cards” by letting companies pay for legal immunity from environmental reviews.
   
• Slaps a fine on protests filed against oil and gas leases, muzzling dissent and pro-conservation civic engagement.
   
• Locks up 4 million acres for coal mining, despite coal making less and less economic sense (let alone being terrible for the environment).
   
• Eliminates protections for endangered species who are vulnerable to offshore oil and gas operations, dooming our planet’s most endangered whale to extinction. 
   
• Demolishes clean energy development by increasing fees for wind and solar while lowering costs for oil and coal. 

One thing is clear: this is nothing more than a love letter to polluters. It drives up Big Oil profits and CEO pay at the expense of our public lands and health, with heat waves and toxic fumes making everyday Americans’ lives harder. 

This will be in the history books if it’s passed, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Your contribution builds our ranks in Congress – we already have 100 climate champions dedicated to building a sustainable future, and those numbers will only grow year-over-year with your help. Our only way out of this is to organize and elect more pro-climate advocates, and we have no time to spare – can our SEEC members count on your support today?

More to come, 
SEEC PAC