This training is your roadmap to showing up confident, clear, and connected when you walk into a Congressional meeting. In this session, you’ll learn how to research effectively using tools like Congressional bios, profile and key studies, understand the different roles within a lobby team, and see how a well-run lobby meeting flows. Whether it’s your first lobby day or your tenth, this training will help you be prepared, focused, and ready to make your voice count.

In Citizens Climate Radio's newest installment of our policy series, hosts Elissa Tennant and Dana Nuccitelli dive deep into the latest updates from Capitol Hill. With the Senate Finance Committee’s budget proposal now public, they unpack what it means for the clean energy tax credits created by the Inflation Reduction Act.

How do the House and Senate versions compare? What would repealing these tax credits cost American households and jobs? What role does energy security—and even AI—play in the clean energy conversation? Elissa and Dana bring clarity to a complex policy moment and offer listeners tangible next steps for action.

You’ll also hear about upcoming CCL leadership changes, summer conference plans, and two thoughtful listener voicemails—including one from someone who really wants to bring back Energy Star.

🎧 Topics Covered:

• Senate vs. House proposals on clean energy tax credits

• The mysterious “bird bath” process

• Projected increases in household energy costs

• Threats to clean energy manufacturing and jobs

• What to expect next in Congress

• How you can make your voice heard

📞 Call or text us with your questions or comments: +1 (619) 512-9646

🗳️ Take action to defend clean energy tax credits: https://cclusa.org/IRAdefense

🎟️ Join us at the Summer Conference in Washington, D.C., July 20–22: https://cclusa.org/conference

🎙️ Citizens Climate Radio is a project of Citizens’ Climate Education.

This month, Dana Nuccitelli, CCL’s Research Manager, breaks down why protecting the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean energy tax credits is a huge opportunity for America. Losing these tax credits would have a serious impact on America's climate progress. Keeping these credits in place means lower energy bills, more clean power, greater energy security, and hundreds of thousands of good jobs across the country. We're telling Congress: Keep these tax credits intact!

The Senate is moving forward on their version of a budget reconciliation bill that could drastically cut clean energy tax credits. CCL wants to protect those tax credits. We have been emailing, calling, and meeting with members of Congress about this for months. Now it's time to take the conversation public in local media all around the country! Join this special workshop with Charlotte Ward, CCL's Communications and Media Manager, to learn everything you need to know to write an effective letter to the editor (LTE) or a full op-ed about the tax credits. After a quick overview and training, you'll spend 20 minutes of focused time writing your LTE or personalizing our op-ed template during the call. Please note that this event includes a short visual presentation and helpful links to access as you write. If you're a Citizens' Climate Lobby volunteer, you can log your training automatically when signed into CCL Community by clicking: https://community.citizensclimate.org/log_training?sf_id=a5yUP000000AHfVYAW Resources from this training https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/102bE0oAgDIT_MuHHbONZA2IdSnhDfCRFVw4kD9vQGl8/edit?slide=id.g333ca062a2c_0_26#slide=id.g333ca062a2c_0_26 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1B1RfD0AQt6E_28aqHEAV1Uc95wd3dvYByEi-dd9m0XA/edit?usp=sharing

This training provides a detailed explanation of the Foreign Pollution Fee Act introduced by Senator Cassidy (R-LA). CCL Research Fellow Dr. Danny Richter outlines the bill's objectives, including creating a tariff on carbon emissions embedded in imported goods, promoting international coordination on climate policy, and establishing a carbon accounting infrastructure. Danny discusses the bill's specifics, such as the tiered tariff rates based on pollution intensity relative to the U.S. baseline, the inclusion of various greenhouse gases and emissions scopes, and the aggressive enforcement measures. He also places the bill within its political context, highlighting bipartisan interest, the different approaches of its sponsors, and the reasons behind CCL's support, emphasizing its potential to reduce emissions and build on previous advocacy.

This month, we’re excited to feature a group of standout CCL volunteers who represent a wide range of activities. They’ll be sharing their stories in a conversation with CCL’s Vice President of Communications, Flannery Winchester. In order of appearance, we'll hear from Beth Chajes, Delaware State Coordinator; Luke Clarke and Kyle Kalinich, Group Leaders for the Golden-Jefferson, CO Chapter; and Frankie Fachilla, Curtis Baysinger, and Group Leader Fred Lemay from the Middle Tennessee chapter.

In this session, we take a close look at the Senate version of this important bipartisan legislation and explore why it’s critical for the climate, for forest health, and for wildfire resilience. You’ll hear from Dana Nuccitelli, CCL’s Research Manager, who will walk us through the science and policy details, and from Jennifer Tyler, our Vice President of Government Affairs, who will explain what this means for Congress and how CCL volunteers can help move it forward.

In this episode of Citizens Climate Radio, we dive into the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)—the biggest climate legislation in U.S. history—and the urgent effort underway to protect its clean energy tax credits.

CCL’s Content Marketing Manager Elissa Tennant joins CCL’s Research Manager Dana Nuccitelli to break it all down. You’ll learn what the IRA funds, how clean energy tax credits work for individuals and businesses, and why these programs are now under threat. Dana also explains the budget reconciliation process, the challenges in Congress, and the surprising level of bipartisan public support for clean energy investment.

You'll leave this episode knowing exactly why the IRA matters—and what simple actions you can take to defend it.

Featured Guests:

• Elissa Tennant is CCL’s Content Marketing Manager, leading strategy and creation for web, social media, and volunteer resources.
• Dana Nuccitelli is CCL’s Research Manager, an environmental scientist, and an award-winning climate journalist with a background in physics and over a decade of science communication experience.

Looking for a full transcript and more, visit www.cclusa.org/radio

Resources Mentioned:

• 📄 Take action to defend clean energy tax credits: cclusa.org/IRAdefense
• 📅 Register for the 2025 Citizens' Climate Lobby Summer Conference: cclusa.org/conference
• 🌟 Get involved with other climate actions: cclusa.org/action
• 🦖 Schoolhouse Rock: Tyrannosaurus Debt (explainer video): Watch on YouTube
• 🧠 Join CCL’s Nerd Corner (for policy deep dives): CCL Community - Nerd Corner

Highlights:

• Why the Inflation Reduction Act focuses so heavily on clean energy.
• What “tax credits” mean for individuals, businesses, and the broader economy.
• How budget reconciliation works—and why it's mostly a partisan process today.
• Why Republicans and Democrats alike have reasons to support clean energy tax credits.
• How CCL volunteers are defending climate investments—and how you can help.

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