Summary: Whiplash, anyone? After many months of intense negotiations and more than one derailment, the U.S. Senate recently passed the largest legislative investment in climate action in U.S. history. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 contains an enormous amount of spending for climate protection and clean energy — $369 billion over 10 years — and is expected to put the country on a path to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2030. But it’s not all good news for everyone. In order to get the support of Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, the final bill made significant cuts to the Democrats’ initial budget reconciliation plan, plus some other compromises. Political Climate hosts Julia Pyper, Shane Skelton and Brandon Hurlbut discuss how climate and clean energy provisions survived the reconciliation bill roller coaster and the impact of key elements of the Inflation Reduction Act. Listen and subscribe to Political Climate on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Amazon Music or pretty much wherever you get podcasts! Follow us on Twitter at @Poli_Climate. Recommended reading:Canary Media: Inflation Reduction Act: Follow Canary’s coverageVox: The Inflation Reduction Act, explainedScientific American: Nearly $53 Billion in Federal Funding Could Revive the U.S. Computer Chip IndustryCanary Media: Climate bill could spur ‘market transformation’ in home electrificationCanary Media: What could the climate bill do for environmental justice?*** Political Climate is brought to you by MCE. Today, MCE offers nearly 40 Bay Area communities almost twice as much renewable energy as the state average. The power of MCE is about more than clean energy — it’s the power of people over profit. Learn more at mceCleanEnergy.org.
