May 22, 2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact
Milagros R. Elia
Program Manager, Climate and Clean Energy Advocacy
Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments
914.455.1165
Nurse Urge Senate To Oppose Reconciliation Bill
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Early morning Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a Reconciliation Bill which, if passed by the Senate and signed by the President, would eliminate health coverage for more than 13 million individuals and also roll back important programs to reduce air pollution and combat climate change through rescinding grants offered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that fund programs to reduce air pollution near schools, monitor air pollution in communities across the country, and reduce diesel emissions. The bill, which passed by 1 vote with a final vote of 215-214, would also repeal EPA’s final clean vehicle standards and other rules to reduce pollution from the transportation sector, which contributes significant vehicle pollution to our communities.
In response to today’s announcement, the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environment’s (ANHE) Executive Director Katie Huffling, DNP, RN, CNM, FAAN issued the following statement:
“The most drastic cuts in funding are targeted at safety net programs, such as Medicaid and SNAP, which would cause roughly 7.6 million people to become uninsured including those who are already low-income and facing food insecurity. This includes women and people with disabilities. As nurses we know that access to health insurance like Medicaid is directly linked to improved health outcomes. People with Medicaid are less likely to die from chronic serious conditions like diabetes and cancer.
This bill puts the health of the nation behind tax breaks for the wealthy and threatens essential health protections and hard fought climate and clean energy investments. If passed as is in the Senate, under the reconciliation bill tax credits for cleaner cars will end this year, with incentives for wind and solar energy projects scaled down and then eliminated by 2032. Many of the lawmakers who voted for this bill represent districts that are already seeing these investments bring real health benefits to their communities through expanded access to clean energy and reduced pollution.
The dismantling of these clean energy incentives threatens to unleash millions more tons of the planet-heating pollution that is causing the climate crisis and negatively impacting the health of our communities. We urgently need the Senate to oppose the Reconciliation bill.”
Advocates also expressed concern over the potential impact if the reconciliation bill gets passed by the Senate noting that this bill would particularly hurt states in the South and would shift resources away from lowest-income households.
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The Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments is the only national nursing organization focused solely on the intersection of health and the environment. The mission of the Alliance is to promote healthy people and healthy environments by educating and leading the nursing profession, advancing research, incorporating evidence-based practice, and influencing policy.