Overnight Energy & Environment

Overnight Energy & Environment — House passes giant climate, social policy bill

by Zack Budryk and Rachel Frazin 11/19/21 06:15 PM ET

Welcome to Friday’s Overnight Energy & Environment, your source for the latest news focused on energy, the environment and beyond. Subscribe here: digital-release.thehill.com/newsletter-signup.

Today we’re looking at House passage of the sweeping climate and social spending bill, the Senate’s confirmation of Charles Sams to lead the National Park Service and upcoming protections for the Tongass Forest.

For The Hill, we’re Rachel Frazin and Zack Budryk. Write to us with tips: rfrazin@digital-release.thehill.com and zbudryk@digital-release.thehill.com. Follow us on Twitter: @RachelFrazin and @BudrykZack.

Let’s jump in.

Sweeping Democratic measure clears House

House Democrats on Friday passed their mammoth climate and social spending plan in a 220-213 vote, securing a major victory for the party ahead of the Thanksgiving break and providing a boost to President Biden at a tumultuous moment for his administration.

The vote came a half-day later than scheduled, a delay caused by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who had commandeered the floor Thursday night for more than eight hours with a speech protesting legislation he warned would send the country into an economic tailspin.

Now that the legislation has passed the House — it heads to the Senate, where it faces a somewhat uncertain future, as Democrats in that chamber can’t afford to lose a single vote.

So let’s recap the past 24 hours: With McCarthy refusing to cede the floor, Democratic leaders scrapped their plan to vote Thursday night, reconvened the chamber Friday morning and passed the roughly $2 trillion bill on a near party-line vote. Rep. Jared Golden, a Democratic centrist from Maine, was the only lawmaker to cross the aisle, joining every Republican in opposing the package.

To advance the bill required most of Golden’s centrist colleagues, wary of the country’s growing debt, to provide their support despite a last-minute cost analysis revealing the package would add roughly $160 billion to the deficit over the next decade.

Enjoy this finance policy interlude: That Congressional Budget Office (CBO) assessment, released Thursday evening, flew in the face of Biden’s promise that the legislation would be fully paid for. It has sparked some debate — and plenty of confusion — over how much the bill will cost overall.

The CBO found that, in total, the package allocates $1.64 trillion in new federal spending over 10 years. But unlike the White House, the budget office does not include the tax credits as part of that top-line number. If those credits are added to the CBO’s spending tally, the figure would jump into the $2.4 trillion range — well above Biden’s initial $1.75 trillion framework.

However…The White House quickly disputed the CBO’s figures, saying the scoring agency had underestimated new revenues that would flow from increased IRS enforcement. The administration also scrambled top aides — including Brian Deese, Biden’s chief economic adviser — to meet with the moderate holdouts to win their support.

“What I saw is that if you take Treasury estimates on the IRS provision, we end up with a surplus,” said Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), a co-chair of the moderate Blue Dog Coalition. “And I have received sufficient information to understand how Treasury gets to their estimate, because they’re the ones that implement the IRS provisions.”

And what’s next: The bill is now in the hands of the Senate, where key swing vote Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is continuing to raise concerns. Earlier this week, he objected to a specific electric vehicle tax credit provision that provides an extra $4,500 for union-built vehicles.

In the past, he also expressed opposition to a fee on the oil and gas industry for methane emissions, which has since been changed to also include incentives. It’s not clear whether he’ll ultimately support the revamped measure.

Senate confirms Park Service director

The Senate late Thursday confirmed Charles Sams III to lead the National Park Service, making him the first Senate-confirmed director since the Obama administration.

Sams most recently served on the Northwest Power and Conservation Council. He is an enrolled member of the Cayuse and Walla Walla of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and the first Native American to lead the National Park Service.

He was confirmed by a voice vote, which signifies that a nominee is noncontroversial.

The story so far: His confirmation comes after the agency was led for years by acting heads under the Trump administration.

The NPS saw four acting directors during the Trump administration. Sams marks the first Senate confirmation of a director since 2009, when it confirmed Jonathan Jarvis. Jarvis remained in his position for the remainder of the Obama administration, departing in January 2017.

Wyden offers words of praise: “Chuck Sams is the right nominee to lead the National Park Service as it addresses these challenges. I know Chuck. He is hardworking. He is committed,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who had asked the Senate to pass Sams’s nomination by unanimous consent, said Thursday night.

“Chuck is a role model in the stewardship of American land and waters, wildlife and history. And now thanks to the Senate’s unanimous decision to confirm his nomination, Congress and park-goers will have someone steady and experienced to rely on in the years ahead,” Wyden added.

As NPS director, Sams will report to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, herself the first Native Senate-confirmed Cabinet secretary.