The League of Conservation Voters led 10 environmental organizations in sending the below letter to the House of Representatives urging Members to oppose the H.R. 4665, the 2024 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act when it comes up for a vote. The League of Conservation Voters will strongly consider including votes related to these amendments in our 2023 National Environmental Scorecard.

September 27, 2023

U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Re: Please oppose H.R. 4665, which cuts U.S. foreign assistance to address climate change and funding for IRA programs and undercuts US global leadership on climate

Dear Representative,

On behalf of our millions of members and supporters, the undersigned groups urge you to oppose H.R. 4665, the House State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs (SFOPS) Fiscal Year 2024 appropriations bill as well as any amendments that are detrimental to our environment and climate justice.

After a year full of record heat waves, horrific flooding, and deadly wildfires around the world, this bill would undermine our progress on fighting the climate crisis at home and abroad and ignores climate change’s connection to other global challenges the bill is intended to address, including promoting food and water security, global health, the protection of tropical forests and other vital natural resources. The bill provides no funding for programs designed to directly address climate change and its impacts and support countries seeing some of its worst effects, explicitly prohibiting such funding in certain cases, including for important multilateral institutions such as the Clean Technology Fund and the Green Climate Fund. It would prohibit funding for the implementation of President Biden’s executive order on tackling the climate crisis at home and abroad and for any special envoy or advisor unless they have been approved by Congress or confirmed by the Senate, which includes the Special Envoy on Climate. It also rescinds over $11 billion from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund funded by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), includes troubling provisions on environmental review and permitting for cross-border projects, and seeks to undercut US authority to regulate cross-border pipelines, including in ongoing State Department negotiations with Canada on Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline.

In addition to the numerous partisan riders impacting racial and gender equity at home and around the world already included in the bill which we oppose, we will also see a number of amendments proposed that would seek to further cut funding for international climate investments and attack the historic progress to fight the climate crisis made in the Inflation Reduction Act. We oppose the inclusion of any anti-environmental poison pill policy riders.

This is a crucial moment for the United States to lead by example on the global stage. We must be doing more, not less to support our partners around the world who have contributed the least but stand most vulnerable to the devastating impacts of climate change. We must also do our part to reduce our emissions here at home, including by fully implementing the Inflation Reduction Act and equitably transitioning from dangerous and polluting fossil fuel infrastructure.

Again, we urge you to REJECT H.R. 4665, the FY 24 SFOPS appropriations bill, which would threaten the progress we have made on tackling the climate crisis, and send a troubling signal to partners around the world about our commitment to addressing this growing existential challenge.

Sincerely,

League of Conservation Voters
Azul
Earthjustice
Endangered Species Coalition
Environmental Defense Fund
IFAW – International Fund for Animal Welfare
Mennonite Central Committee U.S.
Natural Resources Defense Council
PAI
Sierra Club