Democrats in Congress last month proposed a $150 billion payment program that is aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but some have shown opposition to the program, which aligns with President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan.
According to a report by Reuters on Sept. 9, the proposal would not only reward low-emission power producers like solar, wind and hydro, but it would also penalize those who are not. The House Committee on Energy and Commerce provided a document that said there would be a $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill involved, which would address other issues as well as climate change.
Houston Daily reported that the Build Back Better plan would decrease real income by $12,000 per household, information that comes from Vance Ginn of the Texas Public Policy Foundation. “These are substantial costs not only to America as a whole, but in particular to families,” Ginn told Houston Daily.
Meanwhile, in the Peachtree Times, Duquesne University economics professor Antony Davies said the proposed budget from the Biden adminstration for fiscal year 2022 shows $1.8 trillion more in spending, which comes off a $3.7 trillion deficit in 2021.
“To finance these deficits, the government is increasingly relying on loans from the Federal Reserve,” Davies said. “When the Federal Reserve loans to the government, the money supply increases, and that puts upward pressure on prices. He added that households are being impacted with energy costs that are up 24.8% over the past year.
Canarymedia.com reported that the bill includes billions of dollars in funding through the Department of Energy to implement clean energy technology, including loans and grants worth $8 billion. Additionally, $13.5 billion would fund electric-vehicle charging stations and shift heavy-duty vehicles to electricity. The bill also puts $9 billion toward state energy office guidelines designed to create rebates for homeowners. There would also be a $3.5 billion efficiency electric home rebate. An additional $5 billion would go toward low- and moderate-income households and tribes.
Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, opposed the bill as his state relies on coal production for energy and jobs. He feels that the bill, as proposed, would be detrimental for states like his, canarymedia.com said.
Philip Rossetti, former director of Energy Policy at American Action Forum, also released research that said the cost for these green energy goals would be $423.9 billion each year. Supporters of Biden's green energy initiatives would like to see the U.S. moving to 100% renewable energy.
“The analysis further explains that such a policy is not the most efficient way to abate greenhouse gas emissions,” Rossetti said, adding that it would cost $5.7 trillion to achieve the goal of being 100% renewable.
Pittsburgh Works reported that the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a similar plan, has been adopted by some states in the Northeast and those states have shown rising electricity prices. Ten of the top 13 states with the highest prices are from the RGGI, the report said.
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