House Democrats finalized a significant achievement this evening, sending the most expansive climate bill in the nation's history to President Joe Biden's desk. But there's still plenty of work to do on greenhouse gas emissions. The "Inflation Reduction Act" passed the House on a party-line 220-207 vote today after clearing the Senate last weekend. Its $369 billion climate provisions promise to be an enormous boon for clean energy, giving the industry incentives to build projects, produce power and develop technologies that will be needed to further cut carbon out of the U.S. economy. In total, the bill will reduce emissions between 32 and 42 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, according to an updated analysis released today by the Rhodium Group, an independent research firm. 'Not taking our foot off the gas' Modeling comes with some uncertainty, however, and Biden has pledged a larger 50 to 52 percent emissions cut by 2030 under the Paris climate agreement. It can also take many years to build and permit the transmission lines that would be needed to connect new clean energy projects to the grid and transport the electricity to where it's needed. Democrats acknowledge that Congress and the executive branch would have to take further action to meet Biden's climate goals and to hit net zero emissions by 2050 – the target scientists say is necessary to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Because of the budget process Democrats used to get the bill around the Senate filibuster, the measure contains no new regulatory authorities. Progressives think Biden should declare climate change a national emergency, which would open up new executive powers to reduce emissions and address climate impacts. "A climate emergency is still really relevant because it opens up other tools, but I also think we need to celebrate this massive movement forward," Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said today. "We're not taking our foot off the gas." Midterm politics Democrats plan to vote next month on legislation to ease environmental requirements for energy projects, as part of the deal that secured West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin's support for the climate bill. That has sparked concerns among progressives, who are wary of making it easier to build fossil fuel projects. Democrats are likely to lose at least one chamber of Congress in this year's midterms, making the prospect for additional congressional action on climate uncertain in the near term. Republicans will inevitably try to use the "Inflation Reduction Act" against them, arguing that it is full of wasteful green spending Americans do not want. But Democrats think the legislation gives them something to run on. "We have a message for the American people. The Republicans have a message of 'no,' of opposition, of disruption," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said today. "So I think there's going to be a very substantial assist to our candidates."
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