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With the introduced HR-1, the proposed continuing resolution for the remainder of the U.S. government’s Fiscal Year 2011, the House Republicans seek to defang (via defunding) program and program that work to protect Americans via monitoring and studying risks and threats that require response and to put the breaks on government investment in research and programs that help set the stage for setting the stage for a more prosperous and secure American economy.  As put on the table, HR-1 would have devastating — potentially crippling — impact on America and Americans.

• Cuts to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) would put us at greater risks to events like an Avian Flu outbreak and undermine our ability to track disease outbreaks via, for example, tainted food.
• Cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would cripple abilities to track (and control) pollutants from factories and mines and eviscerate our ability to enhance our understanding of Global Warming and the risks it is creating for America’s security and Americans’ prosperity.
• Cuts to the Department of Energy would hamper efforts to foster a 21st century energy industry and system in the United States leaving us (the U.S. and all of us) at greater risks for blackouts like those in Texas recently (and the resulting natural gas problems in New Mexico) and undermining hopes for being able to compete with the Chinese in the clean-energy technology market that is growing like gang busters throughout the world

Evidently, it seems, fossil-foolish interests are dissatisfied with simply crippling the government’s ability to protect Americans’ health and promote America’s future prosperity and security.  Rather than seeking to profit through moving toward 21st century systems, they evidently seek to take America back toward darker 19th century days of ever-more polluting energy and ever-lessening government regulation and oversight of industry to protect Americans’ health and foster greater prosperity.  This dissatisfaction rears its head with the litany of proposed amendments to HR-1 that would raise from devastation outright destruction on program after program that promote and protect Americans and America’s future.

As Brad Johnson (accurately, sadly) put it: GOP Budget Amendments Would Destroy Health, Economy, Planet

Of the over 400 amendments offered on the House government-funding measure, the 2011 Continuing Resolution (H.R. 1), dozens are focused on climate change, energy policy, and environmental protection. The existing language in the budget bill is already designed to deny global warming,slash and burn public health and green jobs, but the amendments would take even more radical steps to reward polluters who are killing our children’s future. Republican amendments, if fully enacted, would:

• Eliminate the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the Special Envoy for Climate Change, the Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change, the NOAA Climate Service, the Department of Energy’s ARPA-E, National Science Foundation K-12 funding
• Block US funding for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Global Environment Facility
• Suspend enforcement of fisheries laws and construction and conservation acquisition programs of the National Parks and Department of the Interior
• Block rules for cement plant pollution, coal ash, industrial boiler pollution, water quality, climate change pollution, climate change adaptation, energy-efficient lighting, mountaintop removal, atrazine, and water conservation

Most of these amendments are budget neutral, not lowering the deficit one cent. Several defund extremely effective jobs programs that cost only a few million dollars. The goal of these amendments is not fiscal responsibility or jobs creation, but polluter protection, even though the pollution is poisoning babies, causing the elderly to suffer, and destroying America’s natural bounty.

“Budget neutral” is actually a generous way to describe many of these as, for example, fostering less-polluting emissions from factories and power plants leads to reduced asthma cases which lowers insurance bills — a high percentage of which get paid via the Federal budget.  Fostering energy-efficient lighting leads to reduced polluting but also fosters profitability and household savings which leads to increased economic activity which results in, voila, increased tax revenues and reduced expenditures on things like unemployment compensation.  Fisheries enforcement helps maintain enough fishing stocks to keep law-abiding fishermen in business and paying taxes. Etc, etc, etc …

On the other hand, Representative Ed Markey, for example, has offered an Amendment to reduce the excessive subsidies given to the oil industry — an industry, while we pay over $3 per gallon (heading back over $4, all too soon, it seems), continues to have extremely high profits and certainly don’t need government assistance to assure their executives luxurious office suites and annual multi-million dollar bonuses (on which they pay far less tax than they would have under the tax policies of Republican deity President Ronald Reagan).    That amendment wouldn’t cost a job and would, contrary to the Republican desires, actually do something to help reduce the deficit.

Representative Jay Inslee has offered an amendment to transfer $66 million in fossil-foolish research to helping accelerate clean-energy research.  Budget neutral today but budget positive tomorrow because this will help foster technology and options for boosting the economy tomorrow which will result in higher federal tax revenues.

The House Republicans seek to put nails in the coffin on hopes for a more prosperous, secure, and climate-friendly future for all Americans while the Democratic amendments offer reasoned steps for incremental moves toward a 21st century economy.

Note: See Wonkroom for a partial list of amendments focused on energy and environmental issues.  And, Politico’s Morning Energy identifies a number of additional amendments put in overnight and other informationt:

No. 407: Ralph Hall’s amendment to require the National Academy of Sciences to perform a “comprehensive review” (including economic data) on EPA’s potential regs on non-mercury hazardous air pollutants emitted from industrial boilers.

No. 495: Hall’s proposal to block funds from being used to establish or run a NOAA Climate Service.

No. 528: John Carter’s bid to eliminate funding for a number of administration positions, including top White House posts focused on climate, the auto industry, Great Lakes restoration and green jobs.

No. 521: Bruce Braley’s amendment to prevent anything in the CR from blocking EPA’s renewable fuels program.

No. 477: Lou Barletta’s proposal to cut $42.6 million from the U.S. Institute of Peace and add it to LIHEAP.

ME WASN’T THE ONLY ONE WORKING LATE LAST NIGHT – House lawmakers kept the lights on in the lower chamber past midnight as they continue to work through the avalanche of CR amendments. Among those debated on the floor while ME hopes you were sleeping:

Bob Latta’s effort to cut $70 million from the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy program; Paul Tonko’s proposal to strike language prohibiting funding for the Weatherization and State Energy program; Jay Inslee’s amendment to boost ARPA-E funding by $20 million (and to offset it by cutting the same amount from the Fossil Energy account); Judy Biggert’s effort to cut ARPA-E funding by $50 million. Recorded votes on those four amendments – along with scores of others – have not yet been scheduled. House adjourned at 1:13 a.m. They’re back at it today at 10 a.m.

FAILED – Mike Pompeo’s amendment (#86) to cut $115.5 million for DOD alternative energy projects, 109-320.