The White House’s plan to implement a climate-based workforce initiative is just over a month old, and there is now a bill in the House of Representatives proposing to block spending in this area.
Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., introduced the No US Climate Corps Act in the House on Friday, seeking to block a program to provide skills-based training to more than 20,000 people, as well as the Biden administration’s agenda Justice40 Initiativeto receive federal funding.
“Instead of recognizing that family budgets are already strained due to sky-high energy prices, President Biden is focused on deploying a climate army that will increase the regulatory burden on business owners and cause even higher inflation across the economy,” Good said in a statement. . “My bill will combat Biden’s climate extremism and continue our work toward the goal of American energy independence.”
The White House presented the American Climate Corps on September 20 as a plan to provide job training and service opportunities for careers focused on “conserving and restoring our lands and waters, building community resilience, deploying clean energy, implementing implementation of energy-saving technologies and the promotion of environmental justice.
The program was part of the Biden administration’s Justice40 initiative – which aims to ensure that 40% of overall profits from certain federal investments go to underserved communities affected by climate issues and pollution – and planned to Use AmeriCorps Segal AmeriCorps Education Awards grants to increase enrollment. towards a goal of 20,000 people in its first year.
Under the plan, the Departments of Labor, Interior, Agriculture and Energy would sign a memorandum of understanding with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association and AmeriCorps to help create what officials in the White House is calling for a “US climate center” that will help coordinate federal recruiting. .
The Office of Personnel Management would also use the proposed rules to expedite access to jobs in state-supported, local, or tribal service programs, and the American Climate Corps will coordinate with established climate programs in five states and with other incoming state programs.
In October, the GOP-controlled House Oversight and Accountability Committee sent a letter to AmeriCorps CEO Michael Smith, learn about the agency’s funding sources and expenses of the program, saying the White House established it without congressional authorization and without clear guidance on how it would fund it.
House Republicans also passed an amendment to an appropriations bill that would block federal funding for the ACC, but it is unlikely to advance in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Good, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, said the policy was part of investments leading to “hyperinflation” on the American public and that the proposed 20,000 ACCs would be tasked with implementing “Biden’s radical ‘environmental justice’ and green energy systems.
The bill was referred to the House committees on Energy and Commerce, Natural Resources, Education and Workforce, and Oversight and Accountability.
