Inflation Reduction Act includes funds for Western drought response

The Inflation Reduction Act (H.R. 5376), which Congressional Democrats are calling a major climate change and clean energy bill signed into law by President Joe Biden last week, included several modest provisions designed to respond to the ongoing drought affecting the Western United States.

While the $740 billion package is not focused on water, many of the provisions in the bill include potential impacts to water via the nexus with climate change, clean energy and environmental justice. The legislation was primarily focused on providing roughly $379 billion in clean energy incentives and grants, along with provisions to reduce the cost of prescription drugs and increase taxes on some high-income Americans. Democrats hailed the bill as “the most significant action ever to fight the climate crisis.”