May Climate Solutions Caucus Round-Up

Dear Stakeholder,

Please see below for highlights from May and a preview of what’s to come.

May Engagement:

Co-Chair Houlahan and Members of the Caucus meet with the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Energy.

• Caucus Members met with leaders from the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Energy to discuss vulnerabilities to defense critical energy infrastructure and opportunities to safeguard this infrastructure on and offsite of military installations.
• Staffers met in early May for a virtual meeting with U.S. Nature4Climate where they were joined by a bipartisan pair of pollsters who shared national findings on cross-partisan support for natural climate solutions. The meeting also featured successful implementation stories from Wisconsin and Alabama.
• Co-Chairs Garbarino and Houlahan highlighted 29 bipartisan, Caucus-Member-led, pieces of Farm Bill legislation for House Committee on Agriculture Chairman Thompson and Ranking Member David Scott. 11 of those bipartisan bills were included in the base text of the Farm Bill. Press release here.
• ICYMI: Co-Chairs Garbarino and Houlahan led an Appropriations letter calling for strong funding for the Department of Energy’s critical mineral and industrial decarbonization crosscutting initiatives. In addition, the letter called for greater interagency coordination between the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy on safe development and deployment of carbon storage infrastructure. The letter was supported by 10 Caucus Members.

Looking Ahead:

In June, Members plan to gather for a permitting reform roundtable with the Bipartisan Policy Center, American Clean Power, Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, The Nature Conservancy, American Council on Renewable Energy, and National Electrical Manufacturers Association. 

Caucus staffers plan to meet in early June for a bipartisan discussion on ESG investing with the National Taxpayers Union and Ceres.  

As always, stakeholders are encouraged to approach the Climate Solutions Caucus with priorities and engagement ideas as the 2024 programmatic calendar continues to develop.  

Please do not hesitate to reach out to Niko Keddy with Co-Chair Garbarino (Niko.Keddy@mail.house.gov) or Ingrid Izaguirre (Ingrid.Izaguirre@mail.house.gov) and Harrison Jumper (Harrison.Jumper@mail.house.gov) with Co-Chair Houlahan.