S. 1251 · 117th Congress

Growing Climate Solutions Act of 2021

Introduced on Apr 20, 2021 by Mike Braun (R-IN). 54 cosponsors, 27 of them from another party. Latest action (Jun 24, 2021): Held at the desk.

Stage
Passed one chamber
Introduced
Apr 20, 2021
Cosponsors
54
27 from the other party
Policy area
Agriculture and Food
Open in the Congress explorerCongress.govAlert me

Progress

The furthest stage the measure reached. Simple and concurrent resolutions do not go to the President.

  1. Introduced
  2. Reported by committee
  3. Passed one chamber
  4. 4Passed both chambers
  5. 5Sent to the President
  6. 6Became law

Official title

A bill to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to develop a program to reduce barriers to entry for farmers, ranchers, and private forest landowners in certain voluntary markets, and for other purposes.

Subjects

  • Advisory bodies
  • Agricultural conservation and pollution
  • Agricultural practices and innovations
  • Air quality
  • Civil actions and liability
  • Climate change and greenhouse gases
  • Congressional oversight
  • Environmental assessment, monitoring, research
  • Farmland
  • Forests, forestry, trees
  • Fraud offenses and financial crimes
  • Government information and archives
  • Land use and conservation
  • Livestock
  • Solid waste and recycling
  • Wetlands

Summary

By the Congressional Research Service (Passed Senate, Jun 24, 2021). Public domain.

Growing Climate Solutions Act of 2021

This bill authorizes the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to establish a voluntary Greenhouse Gas Technical Assistance Provider and Third-Party Verifier Certification Program to help reduce entry barriers into voluntary environmental credit markets for farmers, ranchers, and private forest landowners. A voluntary environmental credit market is a market through which agriculture and forestry credits may be bought or sold.

Entities eligible to participate in the program are (1) providers of technical assistance to farmers, ranchers, or private forest landowners in carrying out sustainable land use management practices that prevent, reduce, or mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, or sequester carbon; or (2) third-party verifiers that conduct the verification of the processes described in the protocols for voluntary environmental credit markets.

Among other requirements, USDA must publish (1) a list of protocols and qualifications for eligible entities; (2) information describing how entities may self-certify under the program; (3) information describing how entities may obtain the expertise to meet the protocols and qualifications; and (4) instructions and suggestions to assist farmers, ranchers, and private forest landowners in facilitating the development of agriculture or forestry credits and accessing voluntary environmental credit markets.

USDA must also establish an advisory council to make recommendations regarding the list of protocols and qualifications, best practices, and voluntary environmental credit markets.

The bill also rescinds certain funds provided in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and makes the funds available for the certification program.

Sponsor and cosponsors

Cosponsors by party as of the day they signed on. Original cosponsors signed on the day of introduction.

Mike BraunR-INSponsor

Democrats · 26

Independents · 2

Republicans · 26

Roll calls

Recorded votes on the measure. Most measures move by voice vote or unanimous consent, which record no individual positions.

  1. On the Amendment
    Jun 24, 2021· Senate· Amendments· Amendment Rejected 11–89
  2. On Passage of the Bill
    Jun 24, 2021· Senate· Passage· Bill Passed 92–8

History

Every action as published, oldest first. Roll calls link to how each member voted.

  1. Apr 20, 2021Introduced in Senate
  2. Apr 20, 2021 · SenateRead twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
  3. Apr 22, 2021 · SenateCommittee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably.
  4. Jun 14, 2021Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. Reported by Senator Stabenow without amendment. Without written report.
  5. Jun 14, 2021 · SenateCommittee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. Reported by Senator Stabenow without amendment. Without written report.
  6. Jun 14, 2021 · SenatePlaced on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 74.
  7. Jun 24, 2021 · SenateMeasure laid before Senate by unanimous consent. (consideration: CR S4736-4740)
  8. Jun 24, 2021Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate without amendment by Yea-Nay Vote. 92 - 8. Record Vote Number: 251.(text: CR S4740-4743)Senate · Roll call 251
  9. Jun 24, 2021 · SenatePassed Senate without amendment by Yea-Nay Vote. 92 - 8. Record Vote Number: 251. (text: CR S4740-4743)Senate · Roll call 251
  10. Jun 24, 2021 · SenateMessage on Senate action sent to the House.
  11. Jun 24, 2021 · HouseReceived in the House.
  12. Jun 24, 2021 · HouseHeld at the desk.

Committees

Committees and subcommittees the measure was referred to.

Agencies in its committees' jurisdiction

Analisa's mapping of committee jurisdiction to federal agencies; the bill may touch others, or none of these.

Who lobbied on it

Organizations whose lobbying reports (LD-2) name this measure. Spending is what they reported for those quarters on all issues, not on this measure alone.

  1. Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.A.6 reports
    $112.9M reported (all issues)
  2. ASSOCIATION OF EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURERS1 report
    $990K reported (all issues)
  3. Bayer US LLC (formerly reported as Bayer CropScience LP)1 report
    $60K reported (all issues)
  4. NUTRIEN US LLC (Formerly Known as AGRIUM U.S. INC.) (a Nutrien Ltd subsidiary)1 report

Reports filed in 2023, 2024, 2025.

Sources and method

Every figure on this page traces to these records.

  • Bill status: bills and resolutions, sponsors, actions, subjects and CRS summaries (U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), from Congress.gov (Library of Congress))GovInfo Bill Status bulk data (Congress.gov; summaries by the Congressional Research Service) · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Members of Congress, their terms, committees and identifiers (The @unitedstates project (from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate))unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators, committees and current committee membership · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
  • House roll-call votes (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, roll-call vote records · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Senate roll-call votes and DW-NOMINATE scores (Voteview (UCLA Department of Political Science))Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Free to use with the required citation
  • Lobbying disclosures (LD-1 registrations, LD-2 quarterly reports, LD-203 contribution reports) (Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives)Clerk of the House, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings (organizations only; lobbyists' names are not loaded) · data current to Oct 6, 2026 · loaded Oct 6, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Positions are shown only where a roll call recorded them; voice votes and unanimous consent record none.
  • Money and votes are shown side by side; neither explains the other.