Dozens of Organizations Urge Senate to Vote No on Bad Budget Bill that Would Raise Costs for Americans, Increase Transportation Pollution

Dozens of Organizations Urge Senate to Vote No on Bad Budget Bill that Would Raise Costs for Americans, Increase Transportation Pollution

June 25, 2025

Dear Senate,

On behalf of our millions of members, we urge you to reject the devastating budget reconciliation bill that raises costs for American families, pollutes our communities, and eliminates hundreds of thousands of good-paying manufacturing jobs to deliver massive tax breaks for billionaires.

For decades, the oil and gas industry has desperately worked to undermine and challenge the United States’ momentum for cutting air and climate pollution from the transportation sector. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) invested in initiatives that moved the U.S. away from our antiquated polluting transportation system powered by fossil fuels. These strategic and innovative programs prioritized reducing costs, protecting American jobs, and driving the competitiveness of the U.S. vehicle industry, while ensuring healthy and thriving communities.

According to the recently released State of the Air Report by the American Lung Association, almost half of the U.S. population breathes harmful levels of air pollution. The 2025 report indicates that the number of Americans who live with unhealthy air rose by 25 million since last year’s report. Cars and trucks are a major source of deadly particulate pollution and continue to increase the rates of asthma, lung cancer, and other respiratory diseases.

Following the House’s egregious budget reconciliation bill, the Senate has proposed a package that would sacrifice our future to fund shameful tax giveaways to billionaires and corporate polluters. 

We urge that you:

Oppose the Elimination of Fuel Economy Fines 
This bill would zero out penalties from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, forcing drivers to buy more gas per mile and increasing gas prices for families. Failing to enforce the CAFE standards would harm American drivers and create costly regulatory uncertainty for car makers.

Oppose the Abrupt Termination of Clean Vehicle Tax Credits
The text proposes overhauling the critical tax credits that consumers, businesses, non-profits, municipalities, fleets, and manufacturers are counting on to deliver cost savings, economic growth, and EV charging infrastructure deployment. Facilities manufacturing electric vehicles and battery components across Georgia, Michigan, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Illinois would be at risk of downsizing or closing. A new report from the International Council on Clean Transportation forecasts that repealing provisions from the Inflation Reduction Act would risk 130,000 jobs associated with auto manufacturing, plus an additional 310,000 indirectly related jobs, by 2030 in the U.S. The proposal would also lead to dramatically higher fuel costs and limit clean vehicle options. This bill would abruptly terminate the following tax incentives:

  • 25E - Credit for Previously-Owned Clean Vehicles;
  • 30C - Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Credit;
  • 30D - Clean Vehicle Credit;
  • 45W - Credit for Qualified Commercial Clean Vehicles;

Eliminating these incentives would lead to economic chaos and market uncertainty, and would eliminate clean vehicle manufacturing jobs in the US. The REPEAT Project estimates that if the Trump administration repeals the federal clean vehicle tax credits, as much as 100% of planned construction and expansion of EV assembly in the U.S. and 50% of existing capacity could be at risk of being cancelled or closed. So far this year, businesses have canceled $15.5 billion in new factories and electricity projects, which were expected to create nearly 12,000 new jobs, according to analysis by E2 and Clean Economy Tracker.

Oppose the Repealing and Rescinding the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF)
Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) is a critical investment that accelerates the transition to clean transportation by funding zero-emission vehicles, charging infrastructure, and community-driven climate solutions in overburdened areas.

Oppose the Rescinding of Clean Transportation Investments
This bill guts major IRA initiatives that have been advancing local investments in clean vehicles, charging infrastructure, public transportation, and clean mobility options. The text proposes rescinding unobligated funds for the following programs:

  • The Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicles Program;
  • The Climate Pollution Reduction Grants;
  • The Diesel Emissions Reduction Program;
  • The Neighborhood Access and Equity Grant Program.

Oppose the Inclusion of Provisions from Earlier Proposals
In addition to the provisions above, we urge the Senate to reject any attempts to reinstate non-budgetary provisions aiming to slow down and/or halt the transition to zero-emission vehicles. These include:

  • Repealing the Environmental Protection Agency’s life-saving standards for light-duty vehicles, which would result in Americans breathing more health-threatening toxic air every day, and climate pollution from cars would increase by 7.2 billion metric tons through 2055.
  • Directing the General Services Administration to take possession of nearly 7,200 new postal EVs and charging infrastructure and auction off the assets and rescinding unobligated funds for USPS to acquire zero-emission vehicles and infrastructure. Not only would this slow the transition to safe, less expensive electric postal vehicles, but would directly cost the Postal Service at least $450 million and place additional financial strain on the USPS.
  • Repealing the statutory authority for the Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicles Program, Climate Pollution Reduction Grants, the Diesel Emissions Reduction Program, and the Neighborhood Access and Equity Grant Program.

These clean transportation provisions are popular among local officials and businesses because of their tremendous benefits. We urge Senators to vote no on this bill, which would harm our health, economy, and communities.

Sincerely,

350 Chicago 

ACES 4 Youth

Alliance for Metropolitan Stability

Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments

American Resilience Project, Inc.

Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota

California Interfaith Power & Light

Center for Biological Diversity 

Center for Progressive Reform

Climate Action Campaign

Climate Reality Chicago Metro

Climate Solutions

Coalition for Clean Air

Coltura

Community Climate Collaborative (C3)

Conservation Law Foundation

CURE

Drive Electric Dayton

Earthjustice Action

Eco-Justice Collaborative

Ecology Action

Ecology Center

Elders Climate Action

Electric Vehicle Association

Environmental Law & Policy Center

Evergreen Action

Faith in Place Action Fund

Forth

Friends of the Earth 

Generation180

GreenLatinos

It's Electric, Inc.

Jobs to Move America

League of Conservation Voters (LCV)

Metro East Green Alliance

MI Air MI Health

Michigan Environmental Council

Mobilify Southwestern Pennsylvania

Mothers Out Front

Native Sun Community Power Development

National Consumer Law Center, on behalf of our low-income clients

Natural Resources Defense Council

Pacific Environment

Plug In America

Policy Foundation, INC

Project Green Home

Public Citizen 

Reno + Sparks Chamber of Commerce

Respiratory Health Association

Ride Illinois

Save Our Illinois Land

Sierra Club

Southern Alliance for Clean Energy

Southern Environmental Law Center

Southwest Energy Efficiency Project

Synergy Development Solutions, LLP

Tri-State Transportation Campaign

Union of Concerned Scientists

Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto

Virginia Clinicians for Climate Action

WE ACT for Environmental Justice