One Year Anniversary of Bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus Relaunch 

The bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus was originally founded in 2016 by former House Representatives Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) and Ted Deutch (D-FL). Representative Garbarino (R-NY) became Co-Chair in 2021 and began work on bringing Caucus membership back up to parity with and Representative Houlahan (D-PA) who joined him in 2022.  

Representatives Garbarino (R-NY) and Houlahan (D-PA) relaunching the caucus.

One year ago, the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus regained parity and officially relaunched! Under the leadership of Co-Chairs Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) and Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), the Caucus has had an active year filled with bipartisan dialogues that have spurred legislative initiatives centered on pragmatic, economically viable, and politically durable strategies to combat climate change. Keep reading for a breakdown of the Caucus’ activity over the past year. 

Caucus Mission: The bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus is a group of Members who are working together to combat climate change while also protecting the economic prosperity of the United States. This group is dedicated to building a constructive dialogue about climate change, economics, energy, and conservation among Members of Congress, global leaders, environmental organizations, and business leaders. The Caucus is currently comprised of over 60 Members, split evenly between Republicans and Democrats to maintain a “Noah’s Ark” style membership. The full Member list can be found here.   

Convening Dialogues: 

• Caucus Members gathered six times for discussions on timely topics in the climate and energy space with bipartisan stakeholders, business leaders, and agency leaders, including:  

1. Permitting Reform
2. Transmission
3. Critical Mineral Supply Chains
4. Farm Bill & Rural Capacity Building
5. Safeguarding U.S. Energy Infrastructure
6. Clean Energy Workforce Development



• Co-Chairs Garbarino & Houlahan jointly presented at four events to discuss Caucus priorities, U.S. climate and energy goals following COP28, local community engagement, and natural climate solutions.  

•  Alongside Co-Chairs Garbarino & Houlahan, five Members of Congress jointly attended COP28 in Dubai in a trip hosted by the Climate Solutions Foundation. Caucus Members David Valadao (R-CA), Salud Carbajal (D-CA), Chavez-DeRemer (R-OR), Troy Carter (D-LA), and Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA) joined the Co-Chairs in meeting with international government officials, corporate CEOs, Chief Sustainability Officers from global corporations, and international trade associations to discuss bipartisan climate efforts. 

• Caucus staff gathered for a total of 20 educational opportunities including briefings, panel discussions, and roundtables that covered a broad and timely range of topics with executive agencies, trade associations, advocacy groups, international government officials, and the private sector, including: (1) Permitting Reform (2) Transmission & Grid Reliability (3) Nature-Based Solutions (4) Voluntary Carbon Markets (5) COP28 (6) Clean Energy Workforce Needs (7) Climate Security (8) Clean Energy Technologies & Federal Incentives (9) Critical Mineral Supply Chains (10) Bipartisan Farm Bill Priorities (11) Industrial Decarbonization (12) Rural Capacity & Farm Bill Programs (13) Bipartisan Perspectives on ESG Investing (14) Carbon Management & Land Practices (15) LNG Exports (16) Geologic Carbon Storage & State Primacy.  

Expanding Membership:  

• Since the Caucus’ relaunch last year, Co-Chairs Garbarino & Houlahan welcomed Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA), Kevin Mullin (D-CA), Kevin Kiley (R-CA), and Susan Wild (D-PA) in September, and Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ) & Troy Carter (D-LA) in March, growing the Caucus’ to include 66 Members while maintaining party parity.   



Legislative Initiatives:  

This year, Co-Chairs Garbarino and Houlahan: 

• Led four bipartisan letters covering permitting reform, underground carbon storage, and funding for key Department of Energy crosscutting initiatives.

• November: the Co-Chairs led a bipartisan letter urging former Speaker McCarthy and Minority Leader Jeffries to support U.S. leadership in the energy and environmental sector by advancing responsible, common-sense permitting strategies. 13 Republican and 13 Democrat Caucus Members joined the Co-Chairs on this letter. 

• December: the Co-Chairs led a letter commending the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council’s proposed rule to expand FAST-41-eligible activities to include mineral processing and recycling but urged them to consider broadening the minerals covered under the proposed rulemaking, particularly to include copper.  

• Early April: the Co-Chairs led a bipartisan letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to express concerns with delays in the permitting of geologic carbon storage and processing of state primacy applications. The Co-Chairs were joined by three Republican and two Democrat Caucus Members on this letter.  



• Late April: Co-Chairs Garbarino & Houlahan led a bipartisan letter to the House Energy & Water Appropriations Subcommittee urging them to provide robust funding for critical Department of Energy (DOE) initiatives and requested report language granting DOE authority to support EPA in processing backlogged permits for geologic carbon storage. Five Republican and three Democrat Caucus Members joined the Co-Chairs on this letter. This language was included in the House FY25 Energy & Water Appropriations report. 

Members gathered for a permitting reform roundtable at the end of June.

• The Co-Chairs jointly championed report language directing DOE to assess the feasibility of using AI to streamline permitting processes which was included in the House FY25 Energy & Water Appropriations report. 

• Led a bipartisan amendment to the Creating Confidence in Clean Water Permitting Act (H.R.7023) requiring a report from the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers on staffing needs for processing permits under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. The amendment was cosponsored by Caucus Members David Valadao (R-CA) & Mike Lawler (R-NY) and passed on the floor unanimously.  

• Introduced the bipartisan, bicameral Natural Climate Solutions Research and Extension Act (H.R.6811). The bill was included in the base text of the 2024 House Farm Bill and aims to advance research that will give farmers the proper tools and knowledge to combat climate change through land management practices. This is the first piece of standalone legislation jointly introduced by the Co-Chairs.

• Highlighted 29 bipartisan Caucus-Member-led bills for House Committee on Agriculture Chairman GT Thompson and Ranking Member David Scott ahead of the release of House Farm Bill. 11 of the 29 bipartisan bills were featured in the base text of the House Farm Bill. Check out these initiatives here. 



• Co-Chair Houlahan championed seven bipartisan energy security provisions that were included in the FY25 House National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Several of these provisions were cosponsored by Caucus Members including an amendment directing the Secretary of Defense, in coordination with DOE, to provide HASC with a briefing on how to use the Defense Production Act to support power and distribution transformer supply chains. Caucus Members Don Bacon (R-NE) and Jack Bergman (R-MI) cosponsored this initiative as well as Reps. McClain (R-MI) and Veasey (D-TX). Read about the other 6 initiatives that made it into the FY25 NDAA here.  

In the News:  

Communications: 

Looking to keep up to date with the Climate Solutions Caucus in the coming year? The Caucus maintains active communications through its website, press releases on relevant actions, and an active monthly newsletter to stakeholders highlighting Member and staff actions and events.  

Monthly newsletter links: 



• September & October , November , December , January , February , March , April , May , June 

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.