Weekly Briefing: Pieces of budget bill soon headed for committee votes
April 30, 2025
For the last few weeks, CCLers nationwide have been working hard to tell Congress loud and clear: Don’t repeal America’s clean energy tax credits. We’ve held lobby meetings, sent thousands of emails, placed phone calls, and dropped off constituent letters at local congressional offices around the country.
This push began in February, after both the House and Senate passed budget resolutions that set targets for spending cuts. Committees, particularly those in the House, quickly set to work figuring out what policies or programs to eliminate in order to meet those targets. As CCL has warned, clean energy tax credits could be on the chopping block during this process.
Now, the committees are starting to reach their decisions. Over the next couple of weeks, House committees will release “draft text” of what they’ve decided to cut or spend on. Each committee’s draft text will need to be “marked up” and voted on by that committee. All together, the committees’ drafts will combine to form one big budget reconciliation bill that could eventually head to the House floor for a vote. (Remember: For something to become law, this whole process would need to happen on the Senate side, too. The House is moving quickly on this, so they’re up first.)
The committee CCL is watching the closest right now is the House Ways and Means Committee — this is the committee with power over most of the clean energy tax credits we are defending. We hope to see that our efforts to defend the clean energy tax credits have stopped them from being outright repealed.
As soon as we see the draft text from the House Ways and Means Committee, or we learn that their markup and vote is scheduled for a specific date, we’ll bring you an update from our Government Affairs team. We’ll tell you what’s in the draft text, what we plan to do next, and how you can help.
This won’t be the end of the budget reconciliation road — the process could still take several more months. But it will be another key moment where we can make our voices heard and work toward a more climate-friendly outcome.
In the meantime, revisit this blog post to catch up on what we’ve done so far in this push to protect the clean energy tax credits.
Catch Up on Our WorkIn other news this week:
Danny Richter reflects on Laudato Si: CCL’s Danny Richter attended and observed a five-day meeting at the Vatican in 2014, an event which led to Pope Francis’ climate encyclical Laudato Si. He reflects on the event and the impact of the Pope’s climate leadership in this new blog post.
Take action this week:
If you have a little time: Watch and share this video about clean energy tax credits. This quick social media video breaks down what clean energy tax credit are and why we want to keep them. Watch the video and share it to your own Instagram story to help your friends and followers understand and get involved!
Featured chapter: CCL Chicago - Read their feature here!
Upcoming trainings:
WATCH: Navigating Climate Advocacy in a Changing Political Landscape - In this training earlier this month, CCL Research Fellow Danny Richter outlined CCL's priorities for the 119th Congress. He detailed our policy priorities, discussed the need to be prepared for multiple swings of the political pendulum, and emphasized maintaining positive relationships with both Democratic and Republican members of Congress. Watch the recording.
5/8: Fix Our Forests - Senate version - Join CCL Research Coordinator Dana Nuccitelli and VP of Government Affairs Jennifer Tyler for a walkthrough of the Senate's version of the Fix Our Forests Act. Join us!
5/22: Understanding the Foreign Pollution Fee Act - The Foreign Pollution Fee Act, reintroduced by Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) in April 2025, aims to impose a fee on certain imported products based on their level of greenhouse gas emissions. Plan to join this training next month, where you'll get a comprehensive understanding of the legislation. Join us!
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