Environmental groups ask Congress to fund billions of dollars in climate measures in reconciliation

As Democratic lawmakers begin crafting a massive $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package this week, a coalition of prominent environmental groups is asking them to include between $577 billion and $746 billion for key climate provisions.

In a letter delivered to members of Congress on Tuesday and shared exclusively with CNN, groups including the League of Conservation Voters, Climate Power, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Center for American Progress and the Sierra Club laid out what they called a "climate test" of programs they want lawmakers to support, including a Clean Electricity Payment Program, tax credits for clean energy and electric vehicles, and an end to fossil fuel subsidies. The groups also laid out the minimum amount of funding they want to see allotted to each program, which they say are estimates to give lawmakers a sense of the scale of spending they want to see.