July 24th, 2024
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NTU urges all Representatives to vote "YES" on Amendments #28, #41, #47, #48, #53, and #179, to H.R. 8998, the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025. While the base bill does not increase spending over the negotiated caps, NTU believes that additional cuts could be made, including from earmarked projects.
The amendment numbers are based on the Rules Committee numbering system.
Amendment #28, offered by Rep. Ogles (R-TN), would prohibit funds from being used to carry out Inflation Reduction Act mandates. As NTU has long noted, the Inflation Reduction Act is harmful to taxpayers and results in billions in taxpayer funds given away to alternative energy interests and wealthy households.
Amendment #41, offered by Rep. Cammack (R-FL), would prohibit funds from being used to implement any rule costing the economy more than $100 million per year. This would have a similar impact to the House-passed REINS Act, which NTU has long supported. This would prevent executive branch bureaucrats from reshaping the economy using the rulemaking process - which has generated numerous controversial decisions under the Biden administration such as the tailpipe rule, the Clean Power Plan 2.0 rule, the non-compete rule, and many others, which collectively cost the economy hundreds of billions of dollars in lost growth.
Amendments #47 and #48, offered by Rep. Brecheen (R-OK), would reduce funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities to FY 2019 levels, saving taxpayers millions of dollars.
Amendment #53, offered by Rep. Obernolte (R-CA), would prohibit funds from being used to approve a California Air Resources Board waiver for locomotive emissions regulations. Preventing a patchwork of regulations for train engines is imperative to preventing a subsequent increase in taxpayer costs in compliance or in shipping overhead.
Amendment #179, offered by Rep. Norman (R-SC), would prohibit funds from being used to implement the rule titled “Control of Air Pollution From New Motor Vehicles: Heavy- Duty Engine and Vehicle Standards.” This rule will increase trucking costs and create economic instability caused by a shortage of available and compliant vehicles to ship valuable goods across the country, since existing rail inventory would be unable to absorb such a drastic increase.
Roll call votes on these amendments will be included in NTU’s annual Rating of Congress and “YES” votes will be considered the pro-taxpayer position.
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If you have any questions, please contact NTU Senior Policy and Government Affairs Manager Nick Johns at Njohns@ntu.org