Skip to Content

Press Releases

The Leader’s Floor Lookout: Friday, March 22, 2024

Washington, March 22, 2024
Here’s what to watch for on the House Floor today:

Repealing Democrats’ Green Bank Slush Fund

When Democrats passed their massive so-called Inflation Reduction Act, they included a $27 billion “green bank” called the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) intended to allow the EPA to finance clean energy projects by funding individual organizations. 

Typically, the EPA would award grants themselves through a public process based on merit. Instead, in April 2023, the EPA announced that it would distribute GGRF funds to a few selected politically aligned nonprofit organizations and allow them to distribute the funding – outsourcing their duties to unelected Washington bureaucrats.

If that wasn’t bad enough, many current EPA political appointees have close ties to these politically aligned organizations and held multiple meetings with them before announcing their grant framework. 

Simply put, the EPA’s grant distribution framework redesigns a $27 billion program to award billions of dollars to the Biden Administration’s political allies by creating grants specifically for organizations with ties to EPA appointees – building a slush fund for Democrats' political allies with no oversight or accountability to taxpayers.

Additionally, some of these funds will inevitably end up in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party, as China controls 60 percent of the production of critical minerals, which are essential to transitioning to ‘clean energy.’ We shouldn’t be making our country more reliant on foreign adversaries for energy at the discretion of organizations politically aligned with the Biden Administration – we should be investing in American energy independence.
 

H.R. 1023, the Cutting Green Corruption and Taxes Act, introduced by Rep. Gary Palmer, repeals the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, preventing unelected bureaucrats from forcing their climate agenda on the American people without any oversight or accountability. 

House Republicans won’t let taxpayer dollars be spent without accountability by Washington bureaucrats to further a political agenda and potentially threaten our energy security.
 
 
Funding American Interests and Cutting Woke Initiatives 

Today, we’re bringing the remaining six appropriations bills to the floor to ensure that American national security interests are protected, while over-funded non-defense programs and wasteful Democrat initiatives are cut. The package includes: Defense; Financial Services and General Government; Homeland Security; Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education; Legislative Branch; and State-Foreign Operations. 

The Defense bill provides a $27 billion increase over last year while staying within the spending caps. This funding is directed to key priorities like countering China, countering narcotics, and rebuilding our weapons stocks. The bill includes a 5.2 percent pay raise for servicemembers – the largest in over 20 years. The bill also rejects wasteful spending on climate initiatives and diversity programs and prohibits funding for the Wuhan Institute of Virology and EcoHealth Alliance in China.

The Financial Services and General Government bill reduces spending by 4 percent below last year. It cuts spending to the IRS ($10.2 billion) and for COVID relief ($2.16 billion). It maintains critical provisions that protect life through the federal government’s healthcare plan and the District of Columbia and block the IRS from targeting Americans for exercising their first amendment rights, and it includes new language blocking the Consumer Product Safety Commission from banning gas stoves.

The Homeland Security bill increases funding for border security while cutting funding to entities that encourage illegal immigration. The bill funds 22,000 Border Patrol Agents – the highest level ever funded – and supports 41,500 detention beds. Both levels are consistent with H.R. 2, House Republicans' signature border security legislation. The bill rejects efforts to establish a Chief Diversity and Inclusion Office, and provides funding for new border security technology to detect illegal crossings and fentanyl.

The Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education bill cuts spending by 1 percent below last year’s level. It cuts spending to the IRS by $10 billion, and for COVID relief by $4.3 billion. The bill maintains critical, longstanding pro-life provisions including conscience protections for nurses and doctors, the Dickey amendment preventing federal funding from being used to advocate for gun control, and the Hyde amendment.

The Legislative Branch appropriations bill funds the House of Representatives so we can continue our critical work to hold the Biden Administration accountable and pass legislation to help the American people.

The State-Foreign Operations bill cuts overall foreign aid spending by 6 percent from last year. The bill fully funds our annual commitment to Israel of $3.3 billion in military assistance. It also stops American taxpayers from funding terror by blocking U.S. contributions to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNWRA), which has been thoroughly penetrated by Hamas in Gaza, and by imposing new conditions on humanitarian aid to Gaza including coordination with the Israeli government. It takes on the U.N. by requiring that U.N. agencies address anti-Israel bias and vet their personnel for terrorism ties. It also blocks funding for the U.N. Commission of Inquiry which has targeted Israel. The bill addresses the border crisis by prohibiting funds for programs that encourage or facilitate migrant caravans to the U.S. border.

H. Res. __, the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024, sponsored by Rep. Kay Granger, reduces wasteful spending, protects pro-life provisions like the Hyde Amendment, funds the highest level of border patrol agents ever, includes the largest pay raise for servicemembers in 40 years, cuts IRS funding and blocks them from targeting Americans for their politics, and stops U.S. contributions to UNRWA. 

House Republicans will continue fighting to rid Washington of reckless spending while ensuring we do everything in our power to keep Americans safe.