Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) wants to amend the House Appropriations Committee’s 2025 energy and water bill to strip out a GOP provision to zero-fund the Department of Energy’s Justice40 Initiative.
Stansbury, whose district includes Albuquerque, filed an amendment with the House Rules Commitment to strike part of the bill that prohibits funds from being used to support Justice40.
DOE’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is conducting a pilot project for the Justice40 program, created by President Joe Biden’s January 2021 executive order about tackling climate change. Justice40 calls for 40% of certain federal investments in clean energy and energy efficiency to disadvantaged communities.
This marks the second year GOP-led House Appropriators have tried to end Justice40 funding. DOE requested about $37 million in fiscal 2025, or more than $2 million above fiscal 2024 levels, for Environmental Justice and Equity Programs, which includes Justice 40.
The GOP-led House Rules Committee, which plans to meet sometime next week, will eventually hold a hearing to decide what amendments to the legislation should be allowed to move forward. The committee said it might have the hearing next week.
The amendment deadline is 4 p.m. Eastern Time Tuesday. As of Monday morning, there were 17 amendments proposed to the energy and water appropriations bill.