Program to invest $27 billion for climate and community resilience projects nationwide, 40 percent for environmental justice communities; expected to unleash as much as $250 billion over next 10 years

Washington (March 22, 2024) - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) released the following statement on the House Republican vote against the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund: 

“Just like Republicans’ bragging over infrastructure funding that they voted against, this vote today shows how fundamentally unserious House Republicans are about building economic growth. The national climate bank funding will supercharge new projects in communities across the country—even theirs—while making people safer from climate change and cutting energy bills. And it’s a smart way to use taxpayer money, since each $1 in public funds is estimated to mobilize up to $12 in private capital. House Republicans are making it clear that they’ll attack the American economy and our communities at any price, just to make sure their Big Oil backers know they won’t let us tackle the climate crisis. You can be sure we will fight back in the Senate.”

As Chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate, and Nuclear Safety, Senator Markey successfully secured $27 billion in the landmark Inflation Reduction Act for the establishment of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. The Fund included $20 billion for a national clean financing network based on the National Climate Bank Act, Senator Markey’s legislation with Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-06) to provide $100 billion to an independent nonprofit bank to support communities that have been historically locked out of investments in the clean energy economy, leverage private investments, and maximize greenhouse gas emissions reductions per public dollar deployed.

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