In a recent announcement from Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), they will be allocating a shocking $20 billion in funding for local communities and startup businesses to invest in green technology.
The EPA said the grants would be split into two categories, the $14 billion National Clean Investment Fund and the $6 billion Clean Communites Investment Accelerator. The National Clean Investment fund will invest in “two-to-three” banks looking to help climate startups and other green projects. The Clean Communites Investment Accelerator seeks to support “hub nonprofit organizations” which seek to implement green technology in low-income communities.
This funding came from Biden’s $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) which had to be spent by September 30, 2024, a deadline put forth by Democrats so that Republicans couldn’t repeal it from the highly pork filled Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
In a press release from Vice President Kamala Harris, she said “The President and I set ambitious goals to cut our greenhouse gas emissions by half by 2030 and reach net-zero emissions by 2050—the investments announced today move our nation towards achieving these goals and a cleaner, healthier future for generations to come. Students, small business owners and community leaders with innovative ideas to reduce our emissions and accelerate our clean energy transition will now see their projects become reality, all while creating good-paying jobs and a clean energy economy that works for all.”
Republicans seek to claw back almost $8 billion of this allocated funding in the upcoming 2024 federal budget which Republican Rep. Gary Palmer of Alabama refers to as the “taxpayer-funded $27 billion slush fund.” Republicans feel this budget is excessive and should be scaled back to a more appropriate size which was was “received outside of the regular appropriations process.”
In an effort to justify the crazy budget, the EPA Administrator Michael Regan noted that many of the projects will take place in Republican districts. “We have $27 billion to design a very effective program that, by the way, will go in all districts — red, blue and independent districts,” he said. “This is about investing in America.”