Welcome to 2022, which may just look a lot like 2021. Before Congress adjourned for the holiday break, the President and Democrats hit against the rock called Joe Manchin over the Build Back Better spending package. Negotiations broke down over the price of the bill, once again proving that big spending doesn’t seem to go over easily.
The Congressional Budget Office has since projected the bill would cost $4.73 trillion over ten years, increasing the deficit by $3 trillion over 2022 to 2031. A hard pill to swallow under any circumstance, particularly now, given the current economic environment. But what is in the bill, and what, if anything, should conservatives embrace.
Among all the provisions in Build Back Better, some address our energy and environmental challenges that would make sense to consider under regular order. For instance, certain sections within the Build Back Better plan promote natural solutions to support forest health maintenance, reforestation, and wildfire risk reduction. Other sections provide clean energy tax credits and subsidies for clean technology and lead remediation to promote clean drinking water. But the panoply of Big Government provisions within the bill that are being pushed for the sake of politics, coupled with valid concerns over inflation, makes this bill unpalatable. The prudent way forward would be for the committees of jurisdiction to work through these provisions and craft bipartisan legislation.
While the $2 trillion spending bill has already passed the House but it’s clear Democrats will need to rework and trim down the broad bill to gain Sen. Manchin’s support and have any shot of bringing it to the Senate floor and passing.
What else is on deck this year? The Biden administration is considering a new rule to define and determine which streams and wetlands fall under the Clean Water Act. As we know, the definition of ‘navigable waters’ was expanded during the Obama administration and quickly curtailed during the Trump administration. As noted in an earlier post, regulatory certainty is needed to protect our rivers and streams and reduce confusion and the burdensome impact on industry, agriculture, and landowners. ConservAmerica will be monitoring this process as it continues.
Next week, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing to examine the current state of hydropower. While hydropower is an expansive source of clean, renewable energy, the regulatory process continues to stall its development. With additional updating and retrofitting, many smaller projects can provide clean and renewable power, particularly in remote locations. Streamlining permitting under National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) would be an excellent place to start.
With increased focus on rare earth minerals for our energy future, it is in our nation’s best interest that we can harness critical minerals domestically rather than relying on foreign and unstable sources. Establishing a secure and safe supply chain must be a priority as Congress considers energy proposals. Many prudent pieces of legislation that address access to critical minerals, sponsored by the Roosevelt Conservation Caucus members, are listed here and would be an excellent place to start.
So how much can lawmakers get done in 2022? Infrastructure was the big ‘win’ in 2021 but Build Back Better seems to be hitting a much rockier road. If Congressional leadership is serious about moving forward with energy and environment legislation, it should look to legislation that has already been crafted with bipartisan support and has undergone or is undergoing committee scrutiny. There is much work ahead to address our challenges, and the stakes are high as the midterm elections draw near.
