Washington, D.C.– In response to the House of Representatives voting to pass the Big Ugly Bill, the League of Conservation Voters released the following statement from President, Pete Maysmith:

“The Republican-led House just passed the most anti-environmental bill of all time. The Big Ugly Bill will not only take a sledgehammer to climate progress, but also raise energy bills and the cost of healthcare for hardworking families, jeopardize hundreds of thousands of clean energy jobs, make our kids and communities sick from increased pollution, kick millions of people off of lifesaving programs like Medicaid and SNAP, terrorize immigrant communities with ICE raids everywhere and increase family detentions, and let polluters defile our public lands across the country.

“Every Republican who voted for this bill owns the consequences of this Republican Rate Hike. At a time of rising energy demand, we need clean energy – the most affordable and fastest to deploy- more than ever. Cutting off clean energy will cause utility bills, which are already too high, to skyrocket. Passing this bill will raise costs across the board from energy bills to groceries to healthcare. This bill is deeply unpopular with their constituents across the political spectrum, yet all but two House Republicans sided with billionaire executives and Big Polluters instead of our families and our communities. Republicans refused to be a check on the reckless and chaotic President Trump.

“By supporting this billionaire tax scam, Congressional Republicans have voted to increase utility bills by as much as $400 a year, eliminate hundreds of thousands of family-sustaining clean energy jobs that are disproportionately available to their own constituents, and poison our air and water. They voted to open up millions of acres of our public lands to drilling, logging, and mining, take us back to dirty coal, and put polluters first with corrupt new pay-to-play permitting schemes and other sweetheart deals.

“We will never stop fighting for our environment and for an equitable clean energy future that lowers costs and ensures access to clean air and water for all for generations to come. We thank all members who opposed this destructive bill, and we will ensure Republicans who voted for it are held accountable.”

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