©2025 League of Conservation Voters
2012 Scorecard Vote
138
249
44
Issues
Representative Tom McClintock (R-CA) offered an amendment to H.R. 5325, the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2013, which would reduce funding for fossil fuel research and development programs by $554 million. Coal, oil, and natural gas industries are well established and highly profitable and have never had any trouble finding investors to pay for industry research. Taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize fossil fuel research when energy companies have every incentive to pay for it themselves. Moreover, taxpayer dollars spent on fossil fuels are resources diverted away from investments in clean energy technologies that do not pollute the planet and do not contribute to climate change. On June 5, the House rejected the McClintock amendment by a vote of 138-249 (House roll call vote 317). YES IS THE PRO-ENVIRONMENT VOTE. H.R. 5325 subsequently passed the House, but the Senate took no action on this legislation and the McClintock amendment was not included in the spending measure maintaining current funding levels for the federal government through March 27, 2013, which President Obama signed into law on September 28.
©2025 League of Conservation Voters