You can help restore the funds being rescinded by the U.S. Congress from four programs that stimulate energy innovation and help deliver these energy innovations to the American public. The four programs are:
-- The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Title 17 Loan Guarantee and Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVM) programs, and
-- The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Section 9003 Biorefinery, Renewable Chemical and Bioproduct Manufacturing Assistance Program and Section 9007 Renewable Energy for American Program (REAP).
Please contact your Representative and Senators and tell them to:
-- Vote in favor of a budget cap increase for domestic programs to match all or part of the 2018 $144 billion budget cap increase for defense,
-- Use a portion of the budget cap increase to restore funding for the Title 17 program in the Energy and Water Appropriations Bills passed by the U.S. House of Representatives (House bill H.R.3266) and reported out of committee in the U.S. Senate (Senate bill S.1609), and
-- Ask that the language in the Senate version of the Agriculture and Rural Development Appropriations Bill (Senate bill S.1603) that is related to the Section 9003 and 9007 programs be used in place of the language in the House version of the ag appropriations bill (H.R.3268).
If you wish to be more specific, please ask that your Representative and Senators act to:
-- Restore $20 million to the Energy and Water Appropriations Bills (H.R.3266 and S.1609) for administrative costs for Title 17 loan guarantees along with $150 million to maintain $15 billion of the $23.67 billion in loan authority that these bills would rescind, for a total of $170 million in restored funding – or whatever amount can be appropriated to continue the Title 17 program for FY2018 – so projects in the pipeline can continue to move forward to benefit the American public; and
Also ask that, in resolving the differences between the House and Senate versions of the Agriculture and Rural Development Appropriations Bills (H.R.3268 and S.1603), they act to:
-- Strike subparagraph (4) of Sec. 714 in H.R.3268 and substitute with the language for subparagraph (4) of Sec. 714 in S.1603, which authorizes $139 million under 7 U.S.C. 8103 subsection (g)(1)(A) for the cost of loan guarantees until expended.
-- Strike $1 million after “in excess of” in subparagraph (2) of Sec. 714 in H.R.3268 and replace with “in excess of $50 million of the [mandated] funding made available by subsection (g)(1)(E) of that section for all fiscal years.”;
-- Add the same language to Sec. 714 in S.1603; and
-- Strike lines 18-25 on page 42 under Title III of H.R.3268.
For a one-page list of talking points supporting the DOE’s Title 17 and ATVM programs, view our December 8 blog "Restoring the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Title 17 Loan Guarantee Program Will Create Jobs, Stimulate Private Sector Investment & Help Pay for Tax Cuts," or click here to download a copy.
For a one-page list of talking points supporting the USDA’s Section 9003 and 9007 programs, view our December 8 blog "U.S. Department of Agriculture Innovation Programs at Risk," or click here to download a copy.
You can find the phone number of your senators or representatives at:
