Sierra Club Statement on Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Budget Reconciliation Proposal

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is picking up a budget reconciliation proposal from Chairman Sam Graves (R-MO) that would increase pollution from transportation and transportation materials and penalize drivers of clean cars. 

The proposal includes but is not limited to:

• Cutting billions from the popular Neighborhood Access and Equity Program funded by the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes awards for projects across the country designed to reconnect communities divided by transportation infrastructure. There is currently $3.1 billion that remains unobligated across 78 projects at risk of being cut.
• Imposing a punitive $200 annual electric vehicle fee on drivers who choose to drive electric vehicles that help to clean our air.
• Cutting billions from the Low Carbon Transportation Materials and Low-Carbon Materials for Federal Building Assistance Programs, which empower federal, state, and local governments to reward U.S. manufacturers for producing low-carbon building materials used in everything from bridges and highways to courthouses and ports of entry. 
• Cutting hundreds of millions from the General Service Administration’s Emerging Technologies program, which supports electric vehicle charging equipment and energy efficient retrofits to make federal buildings more cost-efficient and sustainable. 

“House Republicans are threatening to take away billions of dollars in funding that will help to slash health-threatening pollution, improve walkability,  and rebuild communities harmed by highways,” said Sierra Club Clean Transportation for All Director Katherine García. “They’re also trying to punish EV and hybrid drivers with an excessive annual fee rather than fixing the unsustainable Highway Trust Fund. Now is the time to incentivize, not penalize, people to drive cleaner vehicles that curb pollution harmful to our health and climate. Rather than spreading misinformation and attacking popular programs, Congress must focus on ensuring more Americans have access to clean transportation options. This proposal to shift critical funding and impose a punitive fee on Americans to pay for billionaire tax cuts is unacceptable.” 

“Trump and his allies in Congress claim to be creating an American manufacturing boom, but their actions say otherwise. With one fell swoop, this committee has proposed to strip federal, state, and local governments of funding for the construction of public buildings, roads, and bridges with responsibly-sourced materials,” said Harry Manin, Sierra Club Deputy Legislative Director for Industrial Policy & Trade. “This move would reward polluting manufacturers and pull the rug out from under innovative companies. Americans will suffer as pollution rises from manufacturing facilities, innovative technologies advance overseas instead of at home, and construction projects grind to a halt. Congressional Republicans should be focused on funding projects like completing bridges that help commuters get to work or fixing up ports of entry where tariffs are supposed to be collected, not creating more pain for American consumers.”