ENVIRONMENT & CLIMATE CHANGE

Climate change and other environmental risks pose a profound threat to our way of life and the security of future generations. Richie understands the urgent need for action and smart solutions.

Prior to his tenure as Chairman, the Ways & Means Committee hadn’t even held a hearing on climate change in over a decade. But under Richie’s leadership, the Committee developed and passed into law the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the largest federal investment to fight climate change in U.S. history, totaling $370 billion.

The IRA supercharges our national efforts to fight climate change, using generous tax incentives to unleash the speedy development and deployment of clean energy production, energy efficiency, clean fuels, clean vehicles, and clean manufacturing. Together, these provisions are expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 40 percent by 2030, support over 1.6 million high-quality jobs, and make significant strides toward environmental justice. Furthermore, the investments are expected to bring down the average American family’s energy bills by $500 per year.

Richie’s work on the IRA is already yielding significant clean energy results. By early 2024, just a year and a half after the IRA’s passage, the American Clean Power Association reported 117 new utility-scale energy manufacturing facilities, representing $421 billion in investment, $4.5 billion in consumer savings, and more than 42,000 new jobs.

The IRA is a generational investment to fight climate change, but Richie knows we can’t stop there. He has led the Ways and Means Committee to recognize that sustainability and protection of the environment have to be part of how we approach every other policy challenge, from international trade to infrastructure investment to health care.

Richie is recognized as a champion of climate and conservation efforts in Congress. The League of Conservation Voters has awarded Richie’s environmental voting record a 95 for 2022 and 93 over the course of his entire career.