On June 30, 2021, President Biden signed legislation to vigorously regulate climate-warming methane leaks from the oil and gas industry. The Senate vote in April was largely along party lines with three Republican Senators voting in favor of the resolution. In June the House had twelve Republicans joining the Democrats in favor. The signed resolution reverses an Environmental Protection Agency methane rule finalized last year and leaves in place a stricter 2016 EPA rule, finalized during the Obama administration.
In 2021 the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was passed providing historic resources for upgrading the power grid, improving public transit and investing in zero-emission transit and school buses, installing a nationwide EV charging network, cleaning up legacy pollution, replacing lead pipes and delivering clean water. It also helps communities safeguard against extreme weather events, catastrophic wildfires, and other climate-related disasters.
After the 2022 election, the 118th Congress was sworn in. The House flipped back into Republic control (222-212 with one vacancy). Control of the Senate stayed in the hands of the Democrats (50-50) with the power to cast the tie-breaking vote remaining in the hands of Vice-President Kamala Harris.
A big win for climate legislation came when the Biden administration passed the Inflation Reduction Act in August 2022, to date the most significant climate legislation in U.S. history. It offers funding, programs, and incentives to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy and will likely drive significant deployment of new clean electricity resources.
Trump’s budget, passed early in July, 2025 and signed by the President, gutted many of the IRA provisions. Much more detail on the Budget page.
