Rep. Huffman Votes Against Republicans' Dirty Energy Wish List

March 30, 2023

Washington, D.C. – Representative Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) voted against Republicans’ H.R. 1, the Polluters Over People Act, which is a transparent giveaway to the oil, gas, mining, and other polluting industries. The Polluters Over People Act would gut bedrock and environmental and public health laws and ignores the climate crisis – all to enrich oil and gas corporations.

floor speech on act

Watch Rep. Huffman’s Floor Speech on the Polluters Over People Act

“The world’s top scientists and climate experts all agree – we have got to stop polluting our planet, and we’re running out of time to change course. It is now or never if we want to spare our kids from a future that includes more frequent and even worse extreme weather events and climate-driven catastrophes. But instead of legislating with an eye toward the future, House Republicans made it their top priority to fast track their fossil fuel industry wish list that pretends there is no climate crisis and instead puts polluters over people and the planet,” said Rep. Huffman.

“At its core, this bill is a climate disaster that throws vulnerable communities under the bus so the fossil fuel industry can continue to rake in record profits. The list of how disastrous this bill is goes on and on; it claws back the money Democrats passed in the Inflation Reduction Act to support permitting agencies, gives away our public lands and waters to Big Oil for laughably low prices, makes taxpayers foot the bill for polluters’ messes, guts bedrock environmental laws, undercuts tribal sovereignty and silences indigenous voices, pads the pockets of oil and gas executives while adding to the deficit, and attacks clean energy,” Huffman said. “Bottom line: This legislation is bad for the economy, bad for people, and bad for the planet. If my colleagues on the other side of the aisle want to be taken seriously when it comes to streamlining permitting, and not just giveaways to polluters, they need to offer real solutions. And this package is not it.”

The Polluters Over People Act:

  • Reverses Progress on Climate: H.R. 1 reverses the Inflation Reduction Act’s climate and clean energy policies that move us away from our dangerous dependence on fossil fuels and help lower energy bills for families in America.
  • Sells Out Clean Air and Safe Drinking Water: H.R. 1 sets the stage for more dangerous chemical disasters, more toxic air, more unsafe drinking water, and substantially weaker environmental and public health protections.
  • Includes Oil and Gas Giveaways: Big Oil is already making record-shattering profits by taking advantage of billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded subsidies, hoarding thousands of unused leases on millions of acres of public lands, and price gouging working families at the pump.  
  • Drives Polluter-Requested “Permitting Reform”: The only “permitting reform” in H.R. 1 is the gutting of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a longstanding polluter request. As industry representatives have already said, this attack on NEPA will not help accelerate the energy projects we need; less than 1% of projects even go through NEPA’s full, detailed environmental review.

Last Congress, Democrats delivered a historic $369 billion in climate action and clean energy wins through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). These investments are creating jobs, cutting costs for working families, and building a homegrown clean energy system – all while tackling the climate crisis.