Major energy and climate components of Republicans’ party-line bill could fall out in the coming days after the Senate parliamentarian ruled those provisions would run afoul of budget reconciliation rules.
Senate Budget Committee Democrats said late Thursday that the parliamentarian, the referee of the upper chamber’s reconciliation rules, has advised that eight sections — including three under the Environment and Public Works Committee’s jurisdiction — would not meet the strict budget-related requirements.
The decision clarifies that those provisions would be subject to a 60-vote threshold rather than the simple-majority vote that makes the reconciliation process so appealing for the majority party.
Among the sections in limbo are ones that would target Inflation Reduction Act programs, repeal EPA vehicle emissions rules and amend the National Environmental Policy Act to streamline certain permitting processes.
“As much as Senate Republicans would prefer to throw out the rule book and advance their families lose and billionaires win agenda, there are rules that must be followed and Democrats are making sure those rules are enforced,” said Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee, in a statement.
“We will continue examining every provision in this Great Betrayal of a bill and will scrutinize it to the furthest extent,” Merkley said.
Reconciliation rules require clear and direct impacts on the budget and that the effect on revenues or spending not be “merely incidental.”
Senate Republicans must now decide what to do with the sections in question. They could drop the language from their bill entirely or rework them to comply with the Byrd rule, named after former Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.).
Republican leaders are hustling to iron out wrinkles and pass their megabill before their self-imposed deadline of Independence Day, all while Democrats look to poke holes in the legislation ahead of a marathon series of amendment votes that could take place as soon as next week.
IRA, emissions rules, permitting
Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled that Republicans’ proposal to repeal statutory authorizations for Inflation Reduction Act programs would violate the rules. However, the effort to repeal unobligated funds from certain sections of the 2022 climate law would still be allowed.
POLITICO’s E&E News previously reported that the move to use reconciliation to repeal underlying authorizing language is unheard of among budget experts. Such a move would make it much more difficult for future Congresses to restore the programs.
The Republican plan to repeal EPA’s tailpipe emissions standards for passenger vehicle model years 2027 or later would not be allowed, likely due to the lack of a direct budget impact.
Republicans have said this regulation is part of the Biden administration’s electric vehicle “mandate,” but there have been questions about how the repeal would generate savings.
Also on the chopping block is a provision that would amend the National Environmental Policy Act to allow project sponsors to pay a one-time fee — 125 percent of the cost to prepare an environmental document — to fast-track environmental reviews and prevent judicial reviews for certain findings. The parliamentarian ruled against the litigation portion.
A spokesperson for Environment and Public Works Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) did not comment Friday morning.
More provisions under scrutiny
Democrats said the Senate parliamentarian advised that several provisions proposed by the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee would be subject to the higher 60-vote threshold. They include proposals to cut funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Financial Research Fund.
The parliamentarian also highlighted a provision under the Armed Services Committee’s jurisdiction that would reduce appropriations for the Department of Defense if spending plans are not submitted to Congress on time.
The provisions in question represent a tiny fraction of those that Senate committees have proposed in their respective sections. Leaders have already been trying to get ahead of parliamentary rulings on certain provisions by tweaking language that they know would not be allowed.
GOP-backed language that would overhaul the federal rulemaking process and give Congress more say over certain regulations has been rewritten numerous times already.
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chair Mike Lee (R-Utah) has been working for months with other conservatives in the House and Senate to rewrite the “REINS Act” — short for “Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act” — to make it eligible for inclusion in the party-line bill.
Republicans have been circulating new language in recent days that they hope will conform with the Byrd rule. It could theoretically be added to the package via an amendment or another procedure.
Meanwhile, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) took to social media repeatedly over the weekend to pressure Democrats not to question an extension of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act in the Judiciary Committee’s portion of the bill. The expansion of RECA is one of his biggest legislative priorities.
The proposal would reauthorize and expand a program that compensates people sickened by nuclear radiation as a result of the government’s nuclear weapons development. The legislation has had bipartisan backing in the past.
“Democrats will soon have to decide whether to try to strip RECA out of the reconciliation bill (using the ‘Byrd rules’),” Hawley posted on X. “It stays in unless Democrats challenge. Don’t do it! Survivors have waited too long. Let’s get this done now!”
Clarification: This story was updated to clarify that the parliamentarian only ruled against the judicial review portion of a Republican National Environmental Policy Act permitting provision.
