Washington, D.C.: In response to the announcement of an agreement on legislation to avoid a catastrophic debt default, the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) issued the following statement from Tiernan Sittenfeld, Senior Vice President of Government Affairs:

“It’s unconscionable that extreme MAGA Republicans have driven our nation to the brink of economic catastrophe while making outrageous demands, including draconian funding cuts for environmental programs, undercutting long-standing environmental laws, and repealing the clean energy tax credits and other vitally important provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act that have already created more than 140,000 jobs and are saving people money.

While this deal avoids the most extreme Republican demands as they held our nation’s economy hostage, it includes harmful provisions. It is especially egregious to mandate approval of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which locks in decades of climate pollution, threatens water quality, and jeopardizes communities in West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina, especially low-income, elderly, Indigenous, and Black communities that live near the pipeline’s path. Other damaging provisions could exacerbate the siting of fossil fuel and other hazardous projects in communities of color and low-wealth communities and cut funding for vital environmental programs via destructive spending caps over the next two years.

LCV will continue to hold extreme MAGA Republicans accountable for manufacturing this crisis and voting to Default on America. We will work to ensure effective and equitable implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act, minimize the negative consequences of amending the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and secure the strongest possible funding for environmental programs through the appropriations process.”

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Over the last several weeks LCV and Climate Power have been running a seven-figure, multi-round TV and digital ad campaign holding House Republicans accountable for voting for their extreme Default on America Act and risking a debt default crisis. LCV’s ads have been running in AZ-06, NE-02, CO-03, MI-10, NY-19, NY-22, SC-01 and NV-02