Washington (March 11, 2024) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate, and Nuclear Safety, released the following statement after the passage of the first half of the 2024 Fiscal Year (FY) spending bills. The package included major federal investments to advance and protect several of the Senator’s key priorities across climate, health, infrastructure, international cooperation, and media and technology research, despite Republican leadership cutting several key environmental programs:

“With my Democratic colleagues, Democrats were able to beat back the most extreme and harmful demands made by Republicans. We rejected their attempts to attach harmful environmental policy riders, sabotage the clean energy jobs revolution created by the Inflation Reduction Act, undercut our fight for environmental justice, or sell off to the highest bidder the Arctic lands that Indigenous people have depended upon for generations. I will continue fighting for programs that will build a livable future.”

The FY24 package includes the following appropriations for several of Senator Markey’s priority programs: 

  • $4.7 million for State and Tribal Assistance Grants for toxic substances compliance and $81.6 million overall for the Toxic Substances Control Act program. These programs help identify and eliminate toxic substances from communities, which protect public health and the environment.
  • $8.7 million for the Bay-Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) program to support National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) training and education programs.
  • $6 million for the NOAA Education Program to support state Departments of Education in implementing community resilience curricula in grades K-12.
  • $2 million for the Young Fishermen’s Grant Program carried out by the Secretary of Commerce authorized in Senator Markey’s Young Fishermen’s Development Act. This program provides critical grants for vocational training, education, outreach, and technical assistance initiatives for the next generation of America’s commercial fishermen.
  • $52.5 million for Sustained Ocean Observations and Monitoring to maintain critical ocean observation capacity.
  • $27.5 million for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Investigations, Research and Development budget. This supports ongoing research to study and simulate the effects of evolving environmental processes, including ice sheet melting, sea-level rise, flooding, and habitat degradation.
  • $138 million for the Clean Air Atmospheric Protection Program within the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Science and Technology account and $299 million for the Environmental Programs and Management account. The Clean Air and Climate program provides key funding to the Office of Air and Radiation (OAR), which is the focal point of EPA’s important work to reduce harmful air pollution, control radiation exposure, and mitigate climate change.
  • $236 million for State and Local Air Quality Management categorical grant program, which helps fund local air quality monitoring efforts.
  • $16.3 million for the Tribal Air Quality Management categorical grant, which is critical to ensuring Americans have access to clean air and livable communities.
  • $20.5 million for the Multinational Species Conservation Fund (MSCF), $28.6 million for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (USFWS) International Affairs (IA) program, and $91.8 millionfor the USFWS Office of Law Enforcement (OLE). These programs are critical to fighting wildlife trafficking, poaching around the world, and conserving key habitats for endangered species.
  • $190,000,000 for battery and electrification technologies within the Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

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