Introduction
Many Americans take pride in the fact that they can easily access relevant information of different government processes. Regular updates and press briefings published on the White House website offer vital information to the public on what is happening in their country. One of the most common areas of interest to most citizens is climate change. On August 16, 2022, the US president signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act. In the remarks made on his official White House website, the President touted the law to be the biggest commitment that the country has demonstrated in tackling the issue of climate change (The White House, 2022a). The bill also aimed to transform the pricing of medical drugs and ensure fairness in the country’s tax system.
Discussion
Under this bill, the US government will allocate and spend up to $370 billion on initiatives dealing with green energy. The signing into law of the Climate Change bill marks a significant milestone of legislation through the House and Senate. For nearly three decades, both houses have debated climate change with different results (The White House, 2022b). Over the years, new programs geared towards the reduction of emissions and extension of incentives have been approved by Congress in an effort to speed up the adoption of clean energy.
A variety of efforts have gone into the history of the climate change legislation. Specifically, these legislations have been centered around initiatives for environmental justice for vulnerable communities, promotion of tax credits, and low carbon technologies adoption. The IRA allocates $27 billion towards the creation of a green bank that is meant to finance technologies for clean energy and infrastructure (The White House, 2022). These will be instrumental in cutting down emissions and include activities such as installation of solar panels at the rooftops.
The bill also proposes an allocation of billions of dollars towards clean car manufacturing installations and climate-smart agricultural practices. Such consumer programs that include heat pump underwriting use will also be funded. These are energy saving systems that assist in the control of home temperatures. This will go a long way in improving energy usage efficiency at people’s homes. In addition, the bill also channels $1.5 billion in activities that are meant to reduce the leakage of methane during the production of natural gas (The White House, 2022). This way, the US’ commitment to the Global Methane Pledge will be assured.
The bill has also tasked the Congress to give up to $5 billion in grants in supporting forest conservation, urban tree planting, and fire resilient forests. Moreover, several billions of dollars have also been channeled towards funding drought resilience in the US, particularly the western states. Behind these transformative promises contained in the bill, it is important to note that the bill has had a long history (The White House, 2022). The conceptualization of all the provisions in the bill can be traced to several years ago.
This journey can be traced back to the year 1992 when the Senate approved the U.N Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It mandated all nations to make a commitment to take actions on climate change. The UNFCCC was later signed by the then US President George H.W Bush into law (S.1462 – American Clean Energy Leadership Act of 2009, n.d). Still on the same year, renewable energy got another shot in the arm after the addition of the renewable energy production tax credit to the Energy Policy Act.
In the year 1997, the Clinton Administration signed the Kyoto Protocol after negotiations that concluded in setting emission targets to developed countries. However, the Senate was not involved in the Kyoto Protocol agreement. Efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions would, however, gain significant traction in 2003. In that year Republican senator John McCain and his Democratic colleague Joe Lieberman, came up with a bipartisan bill known as the Climate Stewardship Act of 2003 (Kukkonen et al., 2017). This bill introduced cap and trade program that was meant to reduce exhaust fume emissions from manufacturing, transportation, electricity, and commercial sectors.
In 2007, Congress directed the U.S Environmental Protection Agency to institute a policy that mandated companies to report their greenhouse gas emissions. This program for greenhouse reporting provided a nationwide database for emissions (Mildenberger, 2021). Immediately after his election into the White House, President Obama declared that comprehensive energy and climate bill will be his leading legislative priorities. Subsequently, he implored on the House of Representatives to pass the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (H.R.2454 – American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, n.d). This legislation established greenhouse cap and gas system that was supposed to be felt throughout the economy.
Between 2008 and 2010, several other climate related legislations were proposed in Congress. They included the American Clean Energy Leadership Act of 2009, the American Power Act of 2010, the Carbon Limits and Energy for America’s Renewable Act, and the Practical Energy and Climate Plan. However, the Senate lacked bipartisan support, which made it difficult to reach a consensus on these pieces of legislations (S.1462 – American Clean Energy Leadership Act of 2009, n.d). Unfortunately, this put a halt on climate change legislation by the Senate and the House.
However, in May 2012, a new climate change related bill was introduced in the Senate. The National Flood Insurance Program Extension Act was a revamp of the 1968’s National Flood Insurance Program. This bill significantly provided for full accounting and actuarial pricing of risks related to climate change (Ang & Fredriksson, 2021). Through the bill, the Federal Emergency Management Agency was directed to employ the most appropriate science in dealing with future precipitation hurricane intensity, and sea levels changes (S.3738 – Clean Energy Technology Leadership Act of 2010, n.d). These were poised to have direct impacts on climate change.
The Congress’ failure to act on climate prompted Senator Jeff Bingaman to introduce the Clean Energy Standard Act in 2012. This bill was intended to help in the emission reduction in the power sector (S.1068 – Clean Energy for America Act, n.d). Three years later, Congress came to a consensus to extend and ultimately face out the incentives for wind power production tax credit as well as the solar power investment tax credit. In the absence of federal regulations, these tax credits have been instrumental in assisting in the reduction of carbon emissions and making the cost of renewable energy competitive.
In 2016, the House, through bipartisanship approach launched the Climate Solutions Caucus. This was meant to educate members on options that were economically viable towards the reduction of climate risk as well as the protection of the nation’s water supply, economy, agriculture, security, public safety, and infrastructure. In 2018, Congress enacted a budget deal that expanded and extended crucial financial incentives for different low carbon technologies investments (S.1462 – American Clean Energy Leadership Act of 2009, n.d). This included a proposal to extend and reform the tax credit’s Section 45Q that aimed at boosting the carbon capture.
The Act also introduced proposals on carbon pricing, the first one since 2010. As a result of this development, a resolution of Green New Deal was introduced in both the House and the Senate. A Climate Crisis Select Committee and Climate Solutions Caucus were also introduced into the House and the Senate respectively (S.1068 – Clean Energy for America Act, n.d). In addition, the continued introduction of climate measures that were market based such as clean energy standards and carbon taxes are as a result of this two-year budget deal.
Since the year 2007, the first major legislative policy on energy would, however, be passed in 2020. This was a bipartisan bill that took into consideration the research, development as well as the deployment of energy technologies that are considered clean (H.R.330 – Climate Solutions Act of 2019, n.d). It also included the introduction of tax incentives for clean energy in addition to directing the EPA to stop the consumption and production of hydrofluorocarbons for a period of 15 years.
Conclusion
One of the hallmarks of a democratic society is the easy access of information by its citizens. The US President through the White House website has maintained a continuous and up to date information flow that ensures citizens are informed of the current happenings. From the progress of the Climate Change legislations through the House and Senate, it is apparent that several efforts have been tried to ensure that the Climate Change Bill finally becomes a reality. Since its inception, the government through its legislative and executive branches have maintained an aura of openness that has ensured that the public is kept abreast with the happenings and progress of various legislative processes. All this information can be found in the Library of Congress, which can be accessed through the THOMAS website.
References
Ang, J. B., & Fredriksson, P. G. (2021). Does an early start help or hurt? Statehood, institutions and modern climate change policies. Energy Economics, 94, Web.
H.R.2454 – American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009. (n.d). Web.
H.R.330 – Climate Solutions Act of 2019. (n.d). Web.
Kukkonen, A., Ylä-Anttila, T., & Broadbent, J. (2017). Advocacy coalitions, beliefs and climate change policy in the United States. Public Administration, 95(3), 713-729. Web.
Mildenberger, M. (2021). The development of climate institutions in the United States. Environmental Politics, 30(1), 71-92. Web.
S.1068 – Clean Energy for America Act. (n.d). Web.
S.1462 – American Clean Energy Leadership Act of 2009. (n.d). Web.
S.3738 – Clean Energy Technology Leadership Act of 2010. (n.d). Web.
The White House. (2022a). FACT SHEET: Inflation Reduction Act advances environmental justice. Web.
The White House. (2022b). STATE FACT SHEETS: How the Inflation Reduction Act lowers energy costs, creates jobs, and tackles climate change across America. Web.