Schumer-Manchin reconciliation bill has $369 billion to fight climate change — here are the details
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., on Wednesday unveiled a long-anticipated reconciliation package that would invest hundreds of billions of dollars to combat climate change and advance clean energy programs.
The 725-page piece of legislation, called the “Inflation Reduction Act of 2022,” provides $369 billion for climate and clean energy provisions, the most aggressive climate investment ever taken by Congress. The bill’s climate provisions (summarized here) would slash the country’s carbon emissions by roughly 40% by 2030, according to a summary of the deal.
The abrupt announcement of the deal came less than two weeks after Manchin, a key centrist who holds the swing vote in the 50-50 Senate, said he wouldn’t support any climate provisions until he had a better understanding of the inflation figures for July.
If passed and signed into law, the act would include funding for the following:
“I support a plan that will advance a realistic energy and climate policy that lowers prices today and strategically invests in the long game,” Manchin said in a statement on Wednesday. “This legislation ensures that the market will take the lead, rather than aspirational political agendas or unrealistic goals, in the energy transition that has been ongoing in our country.”
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