President Barack Obama is preparing to unveil his 2017 budget request, and already reports have surfaced the president is planning on asking Congress for billions of dollars more to spend on global warming programs.
“One of the greatest challenges of our time is climate change,” Obama said in his weekly address Saturday. “Rather than subsidize the past, we should invest in the future. That’s why the budget I’ll send to Congress this Tuesday will double funding for clean energy research and development by 2020.”
Obama wants to build on increased green energy funding he got from Congress last year to eventually spend $12.8 billion on research and development by 2021, along with hundreds of millions of dollars to other programs aimed at fighting global warming.
The White House’s last big global warming push comes after the president proposed a $10 per barrel tax on oil production last week. Obama wants to tax oil to pay for green transportation programs, which he believes will be like a second stimulus program.
So, here’s what Obama is planning on asking Congress for in his 2017 budget proposal to fulfill his global warming ambitions:
$5.2 Billion For Department of Energy Green Programs
Obama wants a 20 percent increase in spending on green energy research for about a dozen federal agencies. Most of this spending increase, however, would go to the Energy Department — the same agency that handed out taxpayer-backed loans to green energy companies that went bankrupt.
The Energy Department, for example, would get $1.8 billion to spend on making things like green energy storage more economical, according to a White House fact sheet. The department would also get $880 million to spend on making green transportation more affordable and push green fuels.
Millions More For EPA Global Warming Schemes
The EPA would get a 50 percent increase in funding for its global warming programs, according to Politico. That $235 million in funding is 3.8 percent below what Obama asked for last year, but would amount to 50 percent more than the agency is set to get this year.
EPA’s potentially increased funding, however, comes as 29 states ask the Supreme Court to put the agency’s signature global warming rule on hold while the courts decide on its constitutionality. States challenging the EPA’s climate rule, like West Virginia, argue it would do “irreparable harm” if it’s allowed to be implemented.
Why Is NASA Getting More Money For Green Energy?
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the agency most people think of as responsible for space exploration, would get $348 million for green energy research if Obama’s budget proposal was approved. NASA has come under intense scrutiny in recent months because of its shift away from space exploration to focus more on Earth sciences — aka global warming.
Now, Obama is directing even more funds towards global warming-related research. This is on top of $512 million the president wants to give the National Science Foundation to study green energy.
USDA Will Get Money To Promote Green Fuels
Obama also wants to give the Department of Agriculture (USDA) $105 million for “competitive and intramural research funding to support development of bio-based energy sources that range from sustainable and economical forest systems and farm products to increased production of biofuels,” according to the White House.
Basically, Obama wants more money going into how we can chop down more trees to provide fuel for people instead of relying on oil and gas. This spending would also likely be used to subsidize more research into food-based biofuels — environmentalists already decry corn-based ethanol for its environmental destruction.
HUD Is Getting In On This Bonanza Too
The White House also wants to direct $10 million to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to “help facilitate builders, property owners and tenants to take actions that result in improved energy efficiency or expanded use of low- and no-carbon energy sources.”
Obama has already ordered HUD to do more to get solar power to government-subsidized housing developments, and now the president is looking to increase the energy efficiency of apartment buildings.
“This $10 million effort includes the creation of an advisory group of researchers, builders, tenants, and homeowners to design and implement studies on how to facilitate long-term behavior change in the housing sector, and the evaluation of a clean energy pilot intended to incentivize multifamily property owners and tenants to reduce energy consumption,” according to the White House.
