Letter: Climate Mayors and C40 Cities Fiscal Year 2025 Appropriations Letter
June 25, 2024
The Honorable Charles Schumer, Majority Leader U.S. Senate, S-221, U.S. Capitol Washington, D.C. 20510
The Honorable Mitch McConnell, Minority Leader U.S. Senate, S-230, U.S. Capitol Washington, D.C. 20510
The Honorable Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House, U.S. House of Representatives H-232, U.S. Capitol Washington, D.C. 20515
The Honorable Hakeem Jeffries, Minority Leader, U.S. House of Representatives,H-204, U.S. Capitol Washington, D.C. 20515
The Honorable Patty Murray, Chair, U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, S-128, U.S. Capitol Washington, D.C. 20510
The Honorable Susan Collins, Ranking Member, U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee S-128, U.S. CapitolWashington, D.C. 20510
The Honorable Tom Cole, Chair, U.S. House Appropriations Committee H-307, U.S. Capitol Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Rosa DeLauro, Ranking Member, U.S. House Appropriations Committee 1036 Longworth House Office Building Washington, DC 20515
Dear Speaker Johnson, Majority Leader Schumer, Minority Leader Jeffries, and Minority Leader McConnell:
First, we want to thank you for your commitment to advancing the Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) appropriations legislative packages. We recognize the short-turnaround period between the passage of the FY24 spending packages and beginning of the next appropriations cycle, and appreciate Congressional leadership’s commitment to maintain consistency in the annual appropriations process. As members of Climate Mayors, a bipartisan network of over 350 mayors committed to climate action and C40 Cities, a global network of nearly 100 of the world’s leading cities, we are writing to share our FY25 appropriations priorities for climate and clean energy programs.
The federal government plays a crucial role in supporting local governments in their place-based actions to achieve national, state, and international climate ambitions. Local governments across the United States are hubs of leadership, innovation, and resilience. For decades, local leaders have witnessed what the changing climate means for families, for the economy, and for our nation’s future. That’s why local leaders are focused on deploying people-first solutions and delivering results for the long-term. Localities big and small, are home to nearly 83 percent of Americans and are central to building an economy that is inclusive, robust, and sustainable.
This means dissolving political barriers and working to ensure cities and their residents can benefit from all the climate and clean energy provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the infrastructure investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL).
Our organizations jointly ask you to consider funding these priority federal programs and additional policy considerations that are vital for continued local climate action:
Supporting and empowering local governments in addressing community energy burdens through direct, flexible funding.
DOE’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office (EERE) –$4 billion DOE’s Office of State and Community Energy Programs (SCEP) – $574 million
It is imperative for reducing energy burdens for families across the U.S. to increase federal funding for essential energy efficiency programs. We urge you and your colleagues to appropriate $4 billion, above the President's budget, for the Department of Energy’s EERE Office, along with $574 million for the SCEP Office.
This funding supports the Weatherization Assistance Program, State and Local Government Energy Programs, and Energy Future Grants. Specifically, funding for SCEP provides direct, equitable, investments through the Energy Efficiency and Community Block Grant (EECBG) program. While EECBG received $550 million through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, this program empowers local governments to make decisive actions in their communities that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce total energy use and reduce total energy costs, and spur economic growth with the creation and retention of jobs and should continue to receive funding on an ongoing basis.
Additionally, we urge you and your colleagues to consider providing annual appropriations for EECBG. This program is one of the only formula based, flexible funding streams at the local level. Increasing funding for this program supports local governments in providing essential energy efficiency and weatherization upgrade services to residents.
Increasing the EPA’s core capacities to protect public health and the environment, including increasing funding for environmental justice efforts, staffing, and additional climate-related programs.
The EPA has been under critical funding recessions, leaving the agency at a deficit to administer programs that align with the agency’s core capacities to protect public health and the environment. Major funding recessions have limited the agency’s ability to implement programs that are essential to lifting up communities burdened with polluted air, water, and soil. Therefore, we urge you and your colleagues to appropriate funding at or above the President’s request to ensure EPA’s core agency functions are maintained to further the implementation of IRA and BIL. This includes increasing capacity for EPA’s State Water Revolving Fund, the Office of Air and Radiation, the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, the Superfund Program, the Electric School Bus Program, and supporting additional staff capacity that could potentially add an additional 2,000 employees to the agency. The EPA is a critical agency and we hope leaders continue the agency’s vital legacy of protecting public health and the environment.
Increasing funding to grow support for climate-resilient infrastructure and update federal response to mitigate against future climate-related disasters.
Homeland Security, FEMA BRIC Program – $2 billion – FEMA’s BRIC program supports states, local governments, tribes, and territories across the country undertaking hazard mitigation projects to reduce the risks localities face from disasters and natural hazards. We urge you and your colleagues to appropriate $2 billion for the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Building Resilience Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program. Addressing wildfires, hurricanes, droughts, extreme heat, and flooding helps make communities more resilient and reduce future costs associated with natural disasters.
Additionally, we urge you and your colleagues to consider the inclusion of H.R. 3965, Extreme Heat Emergency Act, which adds “extreme heat” as an eligible disaster under the STAFFORD Act, in the final appropriations bills. Currently, heat waves are the leading cause of disaster deaths in the U.S., yet they are ineligible from being declared a “disaster” or receiving federal disaster declaration or funding.
Increasing funding to reduce energy burdens and help protect communities of color and low income constituents with increasingly frequent extreme weather emergencies.
LIHEAP – $5.1 billion – There is a paramount need for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) to receive full funding as you develop the FY2025 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill. We urge you andyour colleagues to appropriate funding that meets the $5.1 billion maximum authorized amount for LIHEAP1 to help protect communities of color and low income constituents from rising energy costs and extreme weather emergencies.
Supporting funding for climate friendly housing to build new, resilient, and energy efficient affordable housing in cities.
Housing and Urban Development, New Project Based Rental Assistance – $7.5 billion – The affordable housing and climate crises are closely intertwined. Our nation’s aging housing stock is extremely energy inefficient, and disproportionately so in poor neighborhoods who are forced to pay a larger percentage of their household budget on utility costs. We urge congressional leaders and appropriators to invest in funding at or above the President’s budget for rental based assistance contracts to incentivize the development of new climate-resilient affordable housing. These dual crises are particularly acute for people with low incomes and people of color, who are both disproportionately cost burdened and more vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The scale and urgency of the affordability and climate crises requires concerted action from all levels of government, but cities are at the frontlines of climate change.
Avoiding any rescissions from the IRA or BIL – During the FY24 appropriations cycle, there continued to be a push to rescind major funding from the IRA and BIL. This funding is vital to a local government’s ability to provide energy efficiency upgrades for residents, safer and cleaner roadways, and reduce our nation's carbon emissions. However, programs funded through IRA and BIL, such as the Department of Energy’s Building Codes Technical Assistant program, the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Program, clean energy tax incentives, DOT’s RAISE grants, DOT’s NEVI and CFI grant programs, and more continue to be targets for Congressional leaders. These vital programs touch every state and Congressional district in the U.S. We urge you and your colleagues to avoid any rescissions of IRA or BIL, as these imperative and comprehensive programs continue to support local and community needs across the country and your districts.
We appreciate your consideration of our organizations’ joint priorities. We appreciate your time and efforts and look forward to opportunities to provide further support on future federal spending bills. If you have any questions or would like to meet to discuss these priorities further, please contact Climate Mayors’ Policy Director Meghan Pazik at meghan@climate-mayors.org and C40 Cities Head of US Federal Affairs Kate Johnson at kjohnson@c40.org.
Sincerely,
Kate Wright, Executive Director of Climate Mayors
Kate Johnson, Interim Regional Director, North America for C40 Cities