Contact: Carolyn Morrisroe, carolyn.morrisroe@sierraclub.org
WASHINGTON, DC -- Today, President Biden made a counteroffer to Republican lawmakers, taking a step backward on his original infrastructure plan and on critical funding needed to undertake transformational change that would foster cleaner air and water, higher wages, greater equity, healthier communities, and a more stable climate.
A recent poll shows that a strong majority of voters want Congress to pass a big, bold economic renewal package that centers frontline communities, creates millions of family-sustaining jobs, and includes strong labor and equity standards — with over 60 percent in support of an infrastructure package that invests $10 trillion over the next 10 years.
The Sierra Club has called on Congress to deliver a plan as large as the physical reality of the climate crisis, the economic reality of mass unemployment, and the structural reality of systemic racism. Click here for a factsheet with specific examples of the human impacts that are at stake as Congress weighs the scale of the plan.
In response, Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune released the following statement:
“President Biden has committed to building America back better. His effort to appease Senate Republicans fails to build us back, let alone better. Rather than wasting critical time negotiating with people who are more concerned with building roads to the past than investing in bridges to the future, President Biden should work with those interested in crafting an infrastructure package that meets the scale of the crises we face and the scope he presented with the original American Jobs and American Families plans.
“Time and again, Republican leadership has proved they are only capable of negotiating in bad faith. If they’re incapable of agreeing that we must create a commission to investigate the insurrection on January 6th, it is impossible to believe they are to be trusted in crafting an infrastructure package on the size and scale necessary to address our nation’s crises.
“Now is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for large-scale actions to build back better. Every dollar spent is an investment made in people across the country: the 21 million people who live near a Superfund site that requires cleanup, the 2 million people living in public housing who deserve a healthy home, the 20,000 people who die each year from gas vehicle air pollution and who deserve clean air to breathe. President Biden was elected by campaigning on the boldest climate platform in history. This is his opportunity to turn that commitment into reality.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.5 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.