{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-2025-06-30-pt1-PgS4080", "2025-06-30", 119, 1, null, null, "H.R. 1", "SENATE", "SENATE", "ALLOTHER", "S4080", "S4080", "[{\"name\": \"Shelley Moore Capito\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", "[{\"congress\": \"119\", \"type\": \"HR\", \"number\": \"1\"}, {\"congress\": \"119\", \"type\": \"HR\", \"number\": \"1\"}, {\"congress\": \"119\", \"type\": \"HR\", \"number\": \"1\"}]", "171 Cong. Rec. S4080", "Congressional Record, Volume 171 Issue 113 (Monday, June 30, 2025)\n\n[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 113 (Monday, June 30, 2025)]\n[Senate]\n[Page S4080]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n                                 H.R. 1\n\n  Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, as chairman of the Senate Environment and\nPublic Works Committee, I rise to explain Congress's intent regarding\nenactment of section 60002 of Senate Amendment 2360 to H.R. 1, the One\nBig Beautiful Bill Act, OBBBA.\n  Section 60002 both repeals Section 134 of the Clean Air Act which\nestablished the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund--GGRF--and rescinds all\nunobligated funds that were appropriated to carry it out.\n  Section 134 of the Clean Air Act was established in section 60103 of\nthe Inflation Reduction Act, IRA (Public Law 117-169). Section 60103\nappropriated $27 billion to implement the GGRF nearly three times the\nannual appropriation for the entire EPA. Of this amount, $19.97 billion\nwas appropriated pursuant to paragraphs (2) and (3) of subsection (a)--\nto finance greenhouse gas reduction initiatives.\n  In passing section 60002 of the OBBBA, Congress is aware that the\nEnvironmental Protection Agency--EPA--acted on March 11, 2025, to\nterminate all grants awarded under the programs established in\nparagraphs (2) and (3) of section 60103 of IRA. As a result,\napproximately $17 billion has been deobligated from these two programs.\nIt is the intent of Congress that the entirety of this $17 billion--\nevery dollar that is unobligated from the section 60103 of the IRA--be\nrescinded.\n  Title VI of the OBBA includes rescissions from other IRA programs.\nBut section 60002, addressing the GGRF, is the only provision in title\nVI that both rescinds all unobligated funding and repeals the relevant\nIRA section in full. This action reflects not only Congress's deep\nconcern with reducing the deficit, but EPA's administration of the GGRF\nunder the Biden administration, the Agency's selection of grant\nrecipients, and the absence of meaningful program oversight.\n  I wrote to then EPA Administrator Michael Regan in December 2024,\nhighlighting the risk of waste, fraud, and abuse in the GGRF program,\ngiven the Agency's admitted rush to award grants prior to the change in\nadministration.\n  According to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, a recipient of $2 billion\nof GGRF funding reported only $100 in revenue the year before receiving\nits grant, meaning the Federal grant was 20 million times the\norganization's annual revenue. And the Washington Free Beacon reported\nthat $5 billion went to the former employer of the EPA official then\nserving as director of the GGRF program.\n  Unlike the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the IRA\nprovided no resources to EPA's Inspector General to exercise\nindependent oversight on program funds. EPA's Acting Inspector General\nexpressed concern with the GGRF, noting in testimony to the House\nEnergy and Commerce Committee that the program's use of a financial\nagent to award funds was new to the EPA and that ``using third-party\nentities to determine how to distribute billions of dollars to\nadditional passthrough entities reduces the Agency's control over and\nvisibility of how the funds are spent. Furthermore, it complicates\nefforts to ensure compliance, manage financial risks, prevent fund\nmisuse, and measure the outcomes of funded projects.''\n  Given these concerns, Congress decided to enact section 60002 to\nterminate the GGFR program by repealing its organic statute and\nrescinding all unobligated funds, including funds that had been\nobligated but were subsequently deobligated.\n  Congress agrees with EPA's March 11, 2025, action to cancel GGRF\ngrants. EPA has indicated in court filings that, absent action by\nCongress, it is required to reobligate all funding from the GGRF that\nis deobligated through the cancellation of grants. By both repealing\nSection 134 of the Clean Air Act and rescinding all unobligated funding\nfor the program, section 60002 of the OBBBA makes clear that Congress\ndoes not want the GGRF program to continue and does not want funding to\nbe reobligated. Instead, Congress intends that all funding that was\ndeobligated from the GGRF program by EPA's March 11, 2025, cancellation\nof grant awards be rescinded, and not returned to the original GGRF\ngrantees or reobligated.\n\n                          ____________________"]], "columns": ["granule_id", "date", "congress", "session", "volume", "issue", "title", "chamber", "granule_class", "sub_granule_class", "page_start", "page_end", "speakers", "bills", "citation", "full_text"], "primary_keys": ["granule_id"], "primary_key_values": ["CREC-2025-06-30-pt1-PgS4080"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 43.203009001445025, "source": "Federal Register API & Regulations.gov API", "source_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/developers/api/v1", "license": "Public Domain (U.S. Government data)", "license_url": "https://www.regulations.gov/faq"}